A Million Things
by IceGirl2772
Summary: Brylee Bunny is a million things. More recently, one of her million things is a superhero. How will she adapt to her new life? Especially when it brings up questions about the family who abandoned her? More detailed summary inside. T to be on the safe side. No flames allowed.
1. How it Began

**It's been ages since I've posted anything in this archive, the author realizes as she writes this. But I recently got into** ** _Loonatics Unleashed_** **again and this hit me.**

 **Full summary next chapter.**

 **ENJOY!**

 **Or not…**

* * *

Lisa See wrote in her book _Shanghai Girls_ , "Having a baby is painful in order to show how serious a thing life is."

The woman who was going through this experience herself has realized just how much truth that quote contained.

The woman gripped the blanket as she pushed with all of her might. She tried desperately to ignore the pain as she did. It was as though someone was stabbing a hot poker into the pelvic area and her lower abdomen.

The other woman – an anthromorphic bunny approaching her thirties – coached her, rubbing her leg in a comforting manner as she collapsed from the pain. An anthromorphic man – the bunny's husband – rubbed her face with a cool cloth.

The couples' six-year-old son was in the kitchen, playing with a gaming console. He was told to stay out of the way to allow the couple to safely deliver this child. That was an order he followed without hesitation.

"She's crowning," the bunny whispered, "You're doing great. She's nearly out. Just a few more pushes."

This made the woman more determined to bring her child into the world. The seemingly endless hours of discomfort and extreme pain would soon be worth something.

And that something that would make suffering all of that pain and discomfort worth it was the cries of a newborn baby.

"Looks like that doctor got it right for a change," the man joked as he looked at the baby.

"She is so beautiful," the woman whispered.

The woman was coated in a thin layer of sweat, a result of her exhausting work.

"Avery!" the man called as the baby was swaddled in blankets, "ACE!"

Six-year-old Avery, who responded to Ace more than he did Avery, came running in. Immediately, he approached his mother, who was holding the wailing newborn in her arms.

"She looks funny," Ace shrugged.

"So did you when you were born," his mother retorted.

Watching the family together with her child, the woman suddenly remembered another quote that rang true.

It was a Skye Hardwick quote and she had said:

"A birthmother puts the needs of her child above the wants of her heart."

And what she was about to do was going to do just that.

"You know you can always change your mind," the man said to her gently.

She was with this family for a reason. The family, as repayment for taking her in and caring for her throughout the pregnancy, was to receive the baby, whom they would raise as their own.

But the family was also prepared for another possibility. Sometimes, birth mothers who originally had their heart set on adoption often changed their minds when the baby was born and they got to see the child for themselves.

But this woman is determined to follow through with this plan.

No matter how much it would break her heart.

"It will be safer for her this way," the woman whispered.

"What will her name be?" Ace asked, glancing at the three adults in the room.

"You are giving us the greatest gift," the soon-to-be adoptive mother whispered as she shifted her gaze between the child and the child's birth mother, "It is only fair you get to choose her name."

The woman, no matter how much it would hurt her in the future, glanced at the baby.

All she could see was the baby's face peeking through the multitudes of blankets. Her face was round with plump little cheeks people would take pleasure in pinching. She knew that her appearance would change in time as her features became more defined. So would her eyes. Her child was viewed to be a Caucasian baby. In correspondence with the science surrounding the appearance of newborn babies, the baby's eyes were blue. Her true eye color – whether it will be green like her mother's or any other eye color in the broad spectrum of genetics – would not be known for a few months at the most.

The woman had a name in mind for the child. It was a name that kept appearing in her mind since she first learned of the child's existence.

"Brylee. I want her name to be Brylee," the woman said firmly.

"Brylee Bunny," the man mused, "I like that."

"It's pretty," Ace said as he looked at his sister excitedly, "Can Avery be her middle name?"

"Brylee Avery Bunny does have a nice ring to it," the man nodded.

"Would you like to hold her? To say goodbye?"

The woman looked up at the other woman who would take her child in surprise. That was the last thing she expected. She would have thought most adoptive parents would have been active in keeping the child away from their birth mothers in the fear of having the birth mother suddenly changing their mind.

But this couple had no reason to hold that fear. This woman was firm in her resolve.

The baby made all kinds of noises as she was nestled into the woman's arms. The eyes were gazing up at her.

"You are destiny to be; Rebuilder of great home. Restorer of mighty nation," the woman whispered to her, "For now, we must part. But I promise you, Brylee, when the time is right, we will meet again."

She handed the child back to the family. She watched as they began interacting with the baby as though she was their own child.

It hurt her heart to see this. But as she kept saying…

She was no longer hers.

* * *

 **That last quote, the "you are destiny to be…" was by Lailah Gifty Akita from** ** _Pearls of Wisdom: Great Mind_** **. I liked the quotes.**

 **Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up soon. But university is a bitch. Fortunately, I'm on a break until the 27** **th** **of July. I'll hopefully have at least a good start by then.**

 **No flames please!**

 **BYE!**


	2. Things Have Changed

**OK, guys! First of all, here is the full summary:**

 **Brylee Bunny is a million things. An adopted daughter. An adopted sister. An aspiring musician. An aspiring photographer. A diabetic. An outcast. A…superhero? Brylee is thrust into a new life; a life where she has superpowers and she, along with her adoptive brother Ace and five other individuals, save the world from evil on a daily basis. How will she adapt to her new life? Especially when it brings up even more questions about the family who abandoned her?**

 **Obviously, I own nothing except for Brylee.**

 **ENJOY!**

… **or not…**

 **This will be a long one.**

* * *

A lot can change in 14 years.

It has been 14 years since Brylee was born and her mother left her with another family. She always knew she was adopted. She was a human with an anthropomorphic bunny family.

She certainly didn't need other people making snide remarks about it, though.

Some major events have happened in her life. When she was two, her adoptive father was taken from their home and was never seen again. Even to this day, they have no idea why. Police have tried everything, but it was as though he disappeared without a trace. In the end, they have given up and had him declared dead.

When she was four, she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Fortunately, it has become manageable. It comes down to her diet, exercise, monitoring her blood sugar and making sure her insulin pump is set up correctly. The hard part was affording it when she was younger. Her mother's job paid well, but not that well. A group people considered to be a gang ran the community she lived in. They didn't smuggle drugs, launder money or take part in any human trafficking. Instead, they were like Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. They took care of their own. They helped pay Brylee's medical bills and made sure she had everything she needed to manage her diabetes.

When she was twelve, her adoptive mother died. It was a car accident; the police had said when they came to her house to deliver the news. She was driving home from a local clinic where she was volunteering her services as a midwife when someone ran a red light and drove off after the accident. She died upon impact. That was the only good thing Brylee and her brother, Ace, could take away from the whole thing. She didn't suffer. Two days later, they learned that Ace was to be her legal guardian. He was only 18, just got out of high school and was working as a stunt rabbit at a film studio. But he made everything work for them. He made sure there was food on the table, clothes on their back, Brylee got a good education at Acmetropolis High and her diabetes remained under control.

Then almost a year ago, not long after Brylee had turned fourteen, her life changed in a different way. A meteor hit Acmetropolis and released a strange, but powerful radiation. It changed everything for everyone. The planet was knocked off of its original axis. It was supposed to destroy the planet – it was large enough to – but for some reason, it didn't.

Instead, the radiation gave Brylee, Ace and five other individuals strange superpowers. A woman named Zadavia found them and banded them together to be a team – a team of superheroes to defend Acmetropolis from anything and everything.

So this became Brylee's new life. She moved to the 134th floor of the towers with these people, began attending Acmetropolis High via correspondence and joined what became known as The Loonatics.

She wore a black uniform with the triangle on her chest like her teammates. But each teammate had a different colored triangle. Brylee's triangle was white. Ace said it represented her powers. She could produce beams to do anything she wanted and those beams were bright like the light. Her uniform also had special modifications made to it to accommodate her insulin pump, a necessity to her life. Her blonde hair was always up in a ponytail – it would be more practical, she said. Her eyes, which were blue when she was born, changed to green, as her genetics dictated.

"Brrr, now that is cold!"

Brylee looked up from her book – _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen for her honors literacy class – to see Tech E. Coyote, one of her teammates, examine the pizza Rev Runner, another teammate of hers, had just brought over for him.

Tech is a coyote, who is a lot like his ancestor Wile E. Coyote. Only…he doesn't blow himself up as much as his ancestor did and doesn't have Wile's obsession with chasing roadrunners across the globe. However, if Tech did accidentally blow himself up, it wouldn't have caused that much of a worry. One of Tech's superpowers is molecular regeneration, meaning that Tech could heal himself from any injury (unfortunately for him, the power still didn't stop him from feeling the pain associated with the injury). His other power was the ability to create magnetic pulses, which would allow him to levitate metallic objects, scramble electronics and create barriers. Something else that wasn't considered to be a superpower was his superhuman intelligence (mainly because he was already highly intelligent before the meteor hit). He was responsible for creating the team's weapons and other objects and sometimes; coming up with something that potentially saved their lives in the field. His uniform triangle is green, which also matched the color of his powers.

Rev is a roadrunner who is super fast just like his ancestor Road Runner. Rev's velocity is clocked at 9887.9 metres-per-second, faster than even Road Runner himself. He can also fly without a jet pack unlike the rest of the team. He can also track down anyone with his sixth sense: global positioning. As much as Brylee loved Rev, however, his rapid speech sometimes confused or annoyed the others. Rev was also a genius in his own right – but he wasn't on Tech's level. His uniform triangle is red, since it can represent speed.

Tech took a bite out of his pizza, which was frozen solid, and snarked to Rev, "Where did you get it?! Iceland?!"

"Actually…no," Rev began before launching into one of those rapid and unnecessary explanations Brylee saw coming, "I just picked it up from the pizza joint downtown, which I must say is abnormally cold for this time of year. But if you really liked the pizza from Iceland, I could go get some and be back in 4.2 second, which, of course, is just an estimation because you never really know about traffic."

Brylee had to laugh slightly as she saw Tech shove the frozen slice into Rev's mouth. The banter Tech and Rev have shared since they met is highly amusing. It almost resembled the rivalry their ancestors shared. Only, they didn't try to kill each other every chance they got.

"That was one of those questions that didn't require an answer," Tech muttered as Rev walked away and Tech tapped the frozen pizza with his finger.

Suddenly, Tech turned his head in the direction towards their team leader: Ace. Whenever Ace wasn't saving the world or training, he could be found meditating on that hovering disc with the sword he was given resting on his hands. To Brylee, Ace had changed since the meteor hit and they joined the Loonatics. Sure. Ace still loved a good joke as much as his ancestor Bugs Bunny did. However, he was also more serious. Brylee suspected it was because of the amount of responsibility he had thrust upon him.

"Hey, Ace!" Tech called.

Ace opened one eye and saw what Tech wanted him to do.

"On it, Tech," Ace smirked.

Within moments, lasers were shooting out of Ace's eyes and melted the ice that encased the pepperoni pizza. That was one of Ace's powers: Infrared laser vision. Brylee learned early on when they were first discovering their powers that she did not want to be on the receiving end of one of Ace's laser blasts. Especially when he was still trying to control his powers, like everybody else had to. Accompanying this power was optical enhancement, allowing him to see better than everybody else here. However, in battle, he preferred to fall back to his martial arts rather than his powers.

"Extra crispy," Tech said happily before politely offering, "Pizza, Duck?"

Now Brylee liked Danger Duck. She truly did. They could relate sometimes. However, there were times – more often than not – where he could be annoying. He is very boastful and tries to say he is better than everyone at anything, which leads to some hilarious moments when he did try to 'walk the talk'. He keeps saying that he will one day be the leader of the Loonatics. However, he does tolerate Ace's leadership. He keeps boasting about his powers, which are the ability the produce 'eggs' filled with random substances and teleportation to short distances. He also tries to reinvent himself to get him noticed to Zadavia and to be better than everyone else. Right now, he had tied a piece of material to him like a cape and was looking at himself in the mirror while trying to think of a new name for himself.

"Are you kidding?" Duck scoffed at Tech's offer, "I've already had my protein shake. It's vitally important to maintain a superhero physique because you can't afford to be flabby when you're the Duckinator!"

"Yesterday, you were calling yourself Super Duper Duck," Brylee pointed out, sliding a bookmark to mark where she was up to in her book before closing it, deciding she wouldn't get anymore reading done for the time being.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't quite rolling off the tongue," Duck shrugged in a dismissive manner, "Besides, I need a name that will fit on the costume."

"How about…?" Ace trailed off, pretending to be thinking about it before saying, "Duck?"

Duck just deadpanned at Ace and said in a sarcastic manner, "Very funny."

That was something else Duck inherited from his ancestor Daffy Duck: his sarcasm.

At that moment, Brylee heard the sound of the door whoosing open and music. Loud music. She didn't need to turn around to see who just entered.

Lexi was someone Brylee got along with extremely well. It might be because Lexi was the only other female on the team and as Lexi said when they first met, "Us girls should stick together!" Lexi is Ace's second-in-command. She is a bunny like Ace and is the most beautiful person Brylee has ever met. Very much like her ancestor Lola, Lexi is very conscious about her appearance. It was something that Brylee couldn't help but envy. She could make a potato sack look beautiful if she wanted to. Lexi is considered to be the most agile and acrobatic member of the team, thanks to her history with gymnastics and cheerleading. She is known as the eavesdropper of the team, because one of her powers is super hearing. She could hear anything and everything – even a high-pitched dog whistle. Another one of her powers was brain blast – shooting psionic energy from the top of her head between her ears, which were upright and tied together with a green ribbon. Very much like with Ace's laser vision, Lexi's brain blast was something she did not want to be at the receiving end of. According to Duck – who is at the receiving end of them frequently – they hurt.

"Tech!" Lexi began as she removed her earphones, "Did you order more than one pie?"

"No. Why?" Tech inquired as he munched happily at the pizza slice.

"Because Slam is in the house!" Lexi answered, the pink circles travelling up her ears to signify that her super hearing was in use.

As if the words had conjured the man himself, Brylee heard the chime of the elevator and the sound of Slam's grumblings.

Slam couldn't speak English that well, but Brylee had no trouble understanding him. Brylee considered Slam as the muscle of the Loonatics because of his powers. His strength was something he inherited from his ancestor, Taz. But the meteor seemed to increase his strength to abnormal abilities. He can also produce tornadoes with different functions, including suction mode. In his thunder mode, he can launch small electric tornadoes and can generate flame through fiction.

Slam also loved his food and sometimes, eating with him was not pretty. However, Slam was always considerate of Brylee's needs because of her diabetes. He always left food for her and it was always something she was able to eat – even if he was in one of his crazed moods.

Nothing could get between Slam and his food. So everyone was surprised when he came in slightly frozen. The last they had heard, a heat wave – not a cold wave – was going through Acmetropolis. Temperatures were meant to be at triple digits. Not below zero. When she coupled that with Tech's pizza being delivered mysteriously frozen, she knew something was up.

Then she heard the familiar beeps.

Everyone turned around and saw the holocom come to life with Zadavia's image. Her white blonde hair was being blown up by an invisible wind underneath her. Her eyes were white all over, so Brylee could not say what colour her eyes were.

"Loonatics, we have a problem," Zadavia began.

Immediately, Brylee knew that another mission was on the way.

"You've got that right, Zadavia, I'd say we've got a serious problem," Ace remarked.

Ace and Brylee rubbed a circle through the condensation to look out the window. Ice was beginning to form all over the city, covering the buildings and freezing everything in sight.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday," Brylee remarked dryly.

Within moments, everyone was in the conference room in their designated seats. On the screens surrounding them, they saw the cause of the mass freeze in Acmetropolis.

A massive iceberg had emerged from Acmetropolis Bay and as it made landfall, the intensely cold temperature of it froze everything within the general vicinity.

"Eh, what's up, Zadavia? Certainly not the temperature!" Ace cracked.

"So far, nobody can figure out where this iceberg came from," Zadavia began as her hologram reappeared, "I don't have to tell you what will happen if the temperature keeps dropping."

"I knew it!" Duck sighed before saying something that made Brylee want to face palm, "We're gonna lose cable again."

Brylee didn't face palm as she thought she would. Instead, she slammed her head against the table at Duck's overall annoyance.

"OK. Maybe I do have to tell you!" Zadavia snapped, causing Duck to lose his cocky manner.

Brylee decided to beat her boss to the punch, "We could be heading towards an ice age we had 117,000 years ago."

"Oh great. Those winter sweaters make me look chubbo," Lexi moaned.

Brylee had to agree with Lexi. The winter sweaters weren't the most flattering pieces of clothing anyone could find..

"When the meteor hit Earth, your superpowers weren't the only after-effect. This iceberg could be related," Zadavia suggested.

"I think we can handle one iceboig," Ace smirked.

"Acmetropolis is counting on you to take care of this," Zadavia said to the team firmly before disconnecting with a final, "Zadavia out."

"When she goes out, where does she go? The movies?" Lexi guessed.

"Maybe she monitors the city for more missions," Brylee suggested, "It would be the more logical solution."

"Tech, we'll need some toys to melt this ice cube," Ace said to the resident inventor.

"Excuse me, chief. They're not toys. They're precision handcrafted alloy instruments," Tech corrected, clearly annoyed by the fact that his inventions were dismissed as nothing more than toys.

"We'll take those too. But foist, the toys!" Ace decreed.

When everybody walked into Tech's lab, they were aiming to get big guns. Instead, they got little circular discs and they didn't know what to do with them.

"The Retro Fire Master Blaster. Hold it in the palm of your hand. Squeeze twice and…," Tech trailed off.

Rev was often the guinea pig concerning Tech's inventions. So it came as to no surprise that Rev was the first to activate the Retro Fire Master Blaster. When he squeezed twice with the palm of his hand, a massive gun appeared and turned on. The gun took up nearly the entire length of his arm.

Slam, who wasn't necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed, had trouble working the weapon. He kept tapping at it with his finger before dropping it and standing on it. Unfortunately, him standing on it acted like squeezing it in his hand and the gun appeared and attached itself to his leg.

"Uh oh," Slam grunted.

Brylee immediately knew what was coming next. The gun fired, but didn't stop. So it acted like a rocket, sending Slam flying all over the lab. Everybody ducked whenever Slam came close to colliding with them.

"Uncurl your toes! Uncurl your toes!" Tech yelled over Slam's screams.

Slam did just that and ended up falling to the ground. Slam cheered as he held the small disc in his hand. Brylee just hoped he didn't activate it again before they needed him to.

"You've gotta love the toys!" Lexi smirked.

"Time to crush some ice! Let's jet!" Ace said.

* * *

Whenever Ace said 'Let's jet!', it meant suit up and get ready to go out to battle. Within moments, everybody was racing to the launch pad and grabbing their jetpacks (except for Rev, who didn't need the jetpacks to fly). The good thing about the jetpacks was that Tech designed them to look like backpacks. They attached like backpacks too, with the shoulder straps and the extra straps that ran across the top of their chests and wrapped around their waist for extra security.

They were powerful too, but made for a smooth flight. Brylee enjoyed flying with them.

Within moments, everybody had flown to the iceberg.

"Would you look at that thing?! That's gotta be the biggest iceberg I have ever seen! This is a doozy! Are you sure we put enough juice in the blasters, Tech? Not that I doubt your expertise or anything. But that is one giant-!" Rev began rambling.

"Yo, Rev! Watch where you're talking!" Brylee called after him.

Rev finally turned his head towards the direction he was flying and realised that he was about to crash into the iceberg. Fortunately, he redirected his flight path and flew upwards to join the others before he could.

"OK. What wise guy moved Mount Everest?" Tech joked.

Tech's joke was a valid assessment of the iceberg in Brylee's eyes. The iceberg certainly did look like the iconic mountain everybody always desired to climb. Well, it didn't have the height. But it was close enough.

"Alright. Snow cones for everyone. Set blasters on thaw!" Ace instructed.

Within moments, everybody had the small discs in their hand and they squeezed them twice. The gun appeared and took up most of their arms. As they hit the guns, they began firing the blast that was designed to hit the iceberg. Everybody was hitting the iceberg at different points, hoping to melt the giant structure.

Ace was the first to stop firing as his blaster was about to run out of juice. To Ace's annoyance, the blasters did not have an affect on the ice. The blast didn't even chip it.

"No dice," Ace grumbled before calling, "OK! Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!"

Everybody obeyed his command without hesitation. They were just as annoyed about the fact that the blasters didn't even leave a dent in the iceberg.

"How can my Retro Fire Master Blaster not work?" Tech asked in disbelief.

Something that Tech was not used to was his inventions not working the way they were supposed to. Sometimes they would work, but not the way he designed them to. Sometimes, they weren't powerful enough for what they needed. Or sometimes, it just would not work at all.

"It's OK, Tech. This is why we have a Plan B," Brylee pointed out.

The gang of seven put the small discs in their pockets before heading down to land. Ace landed first, before being followed by Tech and Rev together and finally, Slam, Duck, Lexi and Brylee landed together in a group.

"You're on, Slam, buddy!" Ace smirked.

Slam certainly did not need to be told twice. He reached across him and snapped back rapidly, activation his tornado power. She saw spouts of fire coming from the tornado. He flew up towards the iceberg and flew around it rapidly, causing the iceberg to slowly melt. Brylee felt both the water at her feet and heard the beeps of the temperature gauge on the building behind her begin to climb above the minus digits.

"OK. What did he have for breakfast?" Brylee asked rhetorically.

Around her, she saw the ice begin to melt off of all the buildings and the people. The man and his dog that was peeing next to a streetlight resumed their business. The kids who were playing in the pool began splashing about once again.

"Glorified Zamboni! Chipping ice isn't a superpower! Quacking is a superpower!" Duck scoffed, "Observe!"

'This will be good,' Brylee thought to herself with a smirk.

Brylee was not disappointed. Duck got into position and 'quacked' away, as he liked to say. However, Duck can only teleport short distances and sometimes, he has no control over where he ends up.

This time, he ended up inside the iceberg.

"You can stop observing now," Duck said, trapped between two layers of the ice.

When Slam zoomed past in his flame, Duck fell into the shallow pool that was beginning to form around the slowly melting iceberg. Eventually, when Slam melted the iceberg to a reasonable side (which, for them, was not as big as before), he stopped.

"Good guys: one. Mother Nature: nothing," Ace remarked.

Steam was coming off Slam as he crouched on all fours in the water, panting with his tongue sticking out. Brylee had to laugh in her head at how much Slam resembled that pet dog one of her neighbors owned when she first started school.

She would have laughed out loud rather than in her head if it weren't for the fact she felt sorry for the poor guy.

"Hold on, Ace," Lexi suddenly said, "Mother Nature might be done. But I'm picking something up."

"Perhaps a high-pitched dog whistle," Duck drawled.

Lexi's super hearing was highly sensitive and could pick up just any sound. Duck's tongue-in-cheek comment had happened a few times before, particularly when Lexi – along with the rest of the team – was going through an adjustment period where she got used to having powers and learning how to control them.

Then Brylee heard the rumbling and the sound of the iceberg breaking apart. The chunks of ice falling away created small waves as they landed in Acmetropolis Bay. Fortunately, the waves weren't big enough to roll over the retaining walls that blocked the water's access to the city.

But when they saw the big Viking-like ship emerge from the mist, a lot of them began thinking that they would have rather have to deal with the tsunami instead.

The door that was positioned in the neck of the dragon-like structure opened and multiple figures jumped out, landing in front of him.

"Robot Vikings?" Brylee said in surprise.

The figures standing before her were, for a lack of better description, robot Vikings. They had the same design as some of the Vikings Brylee had heard about in her childhood stories. Big. Strong. Helmets with horns on them. Carrying an axe or a sword. Even the armor was almost accurate.

All that was missing was the beards.

"Boy, are you guys lost?" Ace drawled.

Another Viking finally joined the rest. It wasn't hard to determine he was the leader. The Chieftain, as he would be referred to if they were genuine Vikings from the Viking era. He was considerably larger than his companions. His armour was a different colour. His sword was noticeably larger than the other weapons.

"What's up, doc?" Ace said.

"I am Gunnar," the leader, Gunner, introduced himself.

"Gonna what? Go to a Viking Convention at the Civic Centre?" Ace joked.

If there was something Ace inherited from Bugs Bunny, it was playing with his adversaries before he finished them. The only villains he didn't do this with were the ones who actually had the potential to be a threat to Ace and anyone on his team.

However, Gunnar and his 'clam members' were the type of people where if someone told them a joke, it would fly right over their heads.

"No! We are here to take over your world!" Gunnar corrected.

Brylee had to admit. It was hard to take their intentions seriously. They were Robotic Vikings, after all.

"You frosted flakes might as well go back to where you came from. Because this is a no-invasion zone," Ace smirked.

"We will conquer your world by any means necessary," Gunnar proclaimed.

"No you won't," Ace taunted.

"Yes we will!" Gunnar said firmly.

"No you won't," Ace repeated.

"Yes we will!" Gunnar snapped.

"Yes you will," Ace smirked, knowing what would happen next.

"NO, WE WON'T CONQUER YOUR WORLD!" Gunner roared, falling right in Ace's trap.

"Have it your way," Ace shrugged.

"Oh, I will enjoy crushing you, rabbit!" Gunnar snarled.

As he said those words, Gunnar lowered his sword, intending to split Ace in half. Ace, known for his fast reflexes, was quick to flip out of the way, his eyes glowing yellow as he drew out his own sword.

"Oh yeah. Like that's ever gonna happen," Ace scoffed.

The others wisely decided it was the best idea to let Ace and Gunnar battle this out. Normally, Gunnar's massive size would give him an advantage against considerably smaller opponents. However, Ace is a gifted swordsman. He was able to give as well as he received. He did just that as he blocked each of Gunnar's blows and made a few attacks of his own in retaliation.

Eventually, Ace jumped over to where his teammates were standing.

"I could keep this up all day," Ace shrugged.

"Taste my cold steal!" Gunnar cackled.

What they did next was one of the last things Brylee expected them to do. Then again, Gunnar and his army were no ordinary Vikings. Gunnar pressed a button hidden in the hilt and his blade began to cackle and charge as though it was a weapon preparing to be fired.

In a way, it was.

"Time to chill out, bunny!" Gunnar snarled as he fired the substance from his sword.

"I don't think so!" Ace shouted as he fired his laser vision in retaliation.

Usually, when the two different temperatures interact, something interesting happens. When hot air meets cold air, it creates a low-pressure weather system. When hot water combines with cold water, they balance each other out so they are the same temperature.

When Ace's hot laser vision and Gunnar's cold blast from his sword combined, they clashed like what happened when Voldemort and Harry Potter duelled in the books Brylee read with her mother when she was young.

"HAMMERS OF FROST!"

The difference between the Harry Potter novels and the reality in front of them is in the Harry Potter novels, Voldemort never got his Death Eaters involved in his battles with Harry directly, preferring to battle Harry by himself, while Gunnar wasn't above using his soldiers to bring his opponents to a disadvantage to allow him a victory.

Gunnar's soldiers pressed a button within their hammers and slammed the heads into the ground. Ice escaped from the hammers and spread across the ground, covering it in a slippery film.

"Ace!" Lexi cried as Ace lost his footing because of the ice.

Something that amazed everyone there – maybe even the villains themselves – was the fact that even as he lost his balance and slid backwards into his teammates, he never broke concentration.

Slam was quick to race forward and support his leader, due to him being the strongest one there. Tech and Brylee knelt beside Ace, holding his arms, while Lexi, Duck and Rev supported Slam so he wouldn't lose his footing himself.

"Their weapons seem to be charged with a sub-zero thermal liquid solidification energy that when fired, can freeze…!" Tech began explaining.

"I think he's got that part figured out, Tech!" Brylee drawled.

Ace didn't say anything in response. Brylee had said it for him. And she was right. He had that part figured out.

Since Ace was too busy battling Gunnar and the other Loonatics were busy supporting him, none of them noticed that the other Vikings had surrounded them and began firing their sub-zero thermal liquid solidification energy at them.

Until it was too late, that is.

Everybody winced and braced themselves as the ice began to surround them. Ace, however, wasn't one to give up that easy and he continued his battle with Gunnar until the team was completely consumed in a cavern of ice.

The Vikings deactivated their weapons when the Loonatics were completely encased in their igloo-shaped structure. There would be no way to break out of that.

"Let's put this city on ice!" Gunnar cackled.

Gunnar and his fellow Vikings charged into the city, intending to conquer it the best way they know how.

Freezing everything in their path.

They left the Loonatics encased in their igloo-shaped structure. They figured that eventually, they would die of hypothermia and there would be no one left to stop them.

What they didn't know is the individual powers the Loonatics possessed.

Duck teleported himself out of the structure and onto the street, clutching himself as he shivered, desperate for warmth.

"OK! I'm out! I'm out and I'm safe! Which is of number one importance. No need to worry about me! I'm…," Duck trailed off as he realized that while he was out, his teammates were still trapped in the ice, "Hello? You still in there? Well, I think that puts me in charge."

Duck cried out in surprise when he heard and felt the rumbling around him. Immediately, he raced towards the structure that trapped his friends inside. However, he got knocked back when the structure shattered and exploded. Slam pounded at the ice from the sides while Brylee shot at the top with her beam from the inside of the structure. Their combined efforts shattered the structure around them, allowing them to be free.

"N-n-n-nice work there, guys!" Ace stammered as he shivered.

"Thanks, bro," Brylee panted, quickly checking the insulin pump Tech built into her uniform to make sure it wasn't damaged. Though, since the pump Tech built her was stronger and able to withstand more damage than the pump she had before the meteor hit, she doubted it was.

"I would have busted you guys out if you had just given me time to think!" Duck snapped.

"We had seconds. Not hours, Duck," Ace retorted as he walked away.

"I liked you better as a snow bunny," Duck grumbled.

The Loonatics began walking through the streets of Acmetropolis. There was no one in sight, and as they took in their surroundings – everything, from the ground they're walking on, to the top of the tallest building – was covered in a layer of ice.

"I like what they've done to the place," Ace joked.

"Snow drifts are very trendy this year," Lexi remarked.

She pointed to a nearby building and a walkway that was so frozen, icicles were hanging from them. When they looked around, they saw a lot of other buildings that were in the same condition.

"Huh. That sounds like Zadavia's ring," Ace suddenly said.

Brylee began to wonder why Ace would suddenly say something like that. Then, she heard the familiar beeping that indicted Zadavia was trying to call them. Brylee traced it to a local ATM machine. When they were out in the field, Zadavia had been known to somehow hijack any form of technology to contact them, from holocom booths to those big screens people love using for advertising their products.

Brylee hit the purple button on the multicoloured ATM keyboard and answered the call with a, "Hello?"

"I guess you know by now that these are no ordinary Vikings," Zadavia observed as her hologram was projected in front of them.

"Yeah. They don't even sound Scandinavian!" Ace cried.

"I believe the iceberg slipped through one of the inter-dimensional portals that opened up after the meteor hit. These mutant techno-Vikings must have been frozen inside in an ice storm in their own dimension," Zadavia speculated, "But now that these Vikings are here in Acmetropolis and have been released…"

"They can freeze the world so they can take over and not have anyone stop them!" Brylee cried out in realisation.

As she said this, Vikings were going around the city freezing anything in their path, from innocent bystanders walking on the footpath to groups and families travelling in cars.

"Precisely. But now, you have bigger problems," Zadavia said.

The team was about to press for more information. But, they found they couldn't as a sudden blast destroyed the ATM they were using as a communication point and knocked them for a doozy.

"I didn't get the last part. What are the bigger problems?" Duck asked.

"I think I can take a guess," Brylee remarked, pointing behind her.

The ship the mutant Vikings arrived on has come to life, shooting ice balls in the shape of cannonballs from the mouth of the dragonhead mounted on top of the mast. With one particular ball, everyone sprinted out of the way.

Except for Duck, who teleported out of the way.

They watched as the dragonhead turned in various directions and fired the ice balls at different areas in Acmetropolis. Each area that was hit by an ice ball was frozen solid.

"If their trail leads into the city, what are they doing back on that boat?" Lexi asked.

"Maybe they didn't want to miss the dinner show: Gunnar on Ice! Let's jet!" Ace cried.

"Right!" Duck raced forward, eager to lead the takeoff, "Ready, team?! One! Two…"

Duck encountered a problem when he pressed the button on top of the handle to activate the jetpack. The rockets fired for a short amount of time before they shorted out.

"Three," Duck finished lamely.

Fortunately, this didn't turn out to be another embarrassing moment for Duck. Everybody's jetpacks were not working.

"Looks like the ice short-circuited our jetpacks!" Ace cried.

Suddenly, all eyes were on Brylee, who seemed to follow everyone's train of thought. If their jetpacks short-circuited due to their time trapped in the ice, her insulin pump could have been compromised. As a type one diabetic, Brylee could not go for extended periods of time without insulin. Of course, the length of time varied for each person and the severity of their condition, but they noticed that Brylee could not go for more than a couple of hours at the most.

"I checked my pump when we broke out of the ice. It's fine," Brylee reassured them, "Tech, do you have a back-up?"

"Glad you asked," Tech smirked.

Tech then took out a remote and pressed the small red button on it. Within seconds, seven high-tech motorcycles appeared from the horizon and stopped in a perfect line in front of them. Ace immediately raced to the first motorcycle on the line and slid on the yellow helmet.

"Let's show these Vikings how to fly!" Ace cried as he zoomed off.

Everybody else hopped onto their individual motorcycles, slid on their helmets and took off after him.

The rims on the rear wheel detached from the wheel as the front wheels spread out. Rockets and hover stabilizers appeared underneath the motorcycle, giving it the ability to fly.

All seven Loonatics drove to the edge of the pier before they flew over. But they didn't crash into the water. Instead, they took off.

On the ship, a group of Vikings were going around freezing anything that wasn't covered in ice.

"The bunny is back," one of the Vikings sneered.

Knowing that they will never take over Acmetropolis with the Loonatics in the way, they decided to shift their attentions to stopping the heroes in their tracks. So instead of firing their ice balls at random places in the city to freeze, they instead began firing their ice balls at the Loonatics.

Each Loonatic manoeuvred their motorcycle effortlessly to avoid the ice balls. Except for Slam, who was standing up and punching the ice balls away.

Duck didn't move out of the way fast enough and the ice ball grazed him. More specifically, his motorcycle did. Lexi happened to be flying by when this happened and was able to help him by using her brain blast to break the ice. With the ice shattered and his movements less erratic, Duck flew next to Lexi and said,

"Daredevil Duck thanks you."

"Pick a name already, would ya?!" Lexi called to his retreating form.

By this point, Brylee was annoyed with just flying around letting the mutant Vikings use them as moving targets.

And she made sure to make that sentiment known to her brother,

"How long are they going to let them use us as moving targets?!"

"Until they run out of spit wads. Which is right….now!" Ace answered as the two looked back and saw that the Vikings have, in fact, run out of ammunition, "Let the fun begin!"

"Aye aye, skipper!" Brylee joked with a salute to accompany.

"Loonatics, unite!" Ace called to the other Loonatics.

The seven Loonatics resumed their flying formation and flew towards the city, away from the Viking ship.

One Viking cackled, "Look at the cowards run!"

"With them gone, no one can stop us!" another Viking sneered.

The Vikings thought they could make a clean getaway. That they could continue with their plan to freeze the world to make it easier for them to conquer.

That is, until they saw a bright light flash from the horizon and their adversaries speeding towards them in a boat.

Ace, Lexi and Rev stood at the front of the ship while Slam, Brylee and Duck surrounded Tech, who was in the driver's seat.

"Tech, you've outdone yourself," Ace declared.

"You can say it. I'm a genius," Tech said smugly.

"Launch the torpedo!" Ace ordered.

Tech pressed a button on the console and within moments, the seven heroes saw the familiar ripples that came from a tornado speeding through the water heading towards its targets.

"So long, ice geeks!" Duck cried.

The Vikings haven't made it easy for the Loonatics to fight them when they first arrived, and they certainly weren't going to start doing that when their plan was in motion. Rockets on the underside of the ship activated, lifting it out of the water and away from the torpedo, which continued on without hitting its target. Wings appeared on each side, allowing the massive ship to glide through the sky.

"Raugh raugh raugh!" Slam grunted, pointing to the ship.

"Yeah, Slam! We didn't see that coming!" Ace agreed with Slam's intelligible statement.

"Flying Vikings?!" Brylee said in disbelief.

"They won't be flying for long," Tech smirked.

Ace smirked at the resident genius on the team. He follows the coyote's train of thought, and he loved what was going to come next.

Tech pressed another button on his console and the tornadoes attached to the ship's hull activated and began lifting the boat out of the water like rockets. Before long, they had caught up with the Viking ship and were flying above them.

"Tech, take them out!" Ace ordered.

"Engaging the cryonic destabilising gravity discs," Tech nodded as he pressed a button.

The disc dispensary on the starboard side of the ship began to spread outwards to drop the discs on the designated target. The only problem was the mechanism was frozen and only worked partially.

"Now!" Ace yelled, meaning that he wanted Tech to fire them.

"Something's wrong with the mechanism!" Tech realised as he kept pressing the buttons, "They won't respond!"

"I'm on it!" Brylee called.

"Be careful, Bry," Ace warned.

She fired a beam from her hand and the initial firing destroyed the ice, but didn't detonate the discs. Using one hand, she created a barrier around the discs while using her other hand to create a beam to carefully push them into the barrier. With both hands, she levitated them up and directed them over the Viking ship, where she deactivated the barrier surrounding them and let them drop.

"Anchors away!" Lexi joked.

Tech's cryonic destabilising gravity discs did the job they intended them to do. They detonated upon impact with the Viking ship, casing the ship to crash into the nearby pier before coming to land in the water.

"I love those explosions!" Ace cheered.

Slam cheered and pulled Brylee into a near-bone-crushing hug, signifying that he thought she did a good job with how she fired the cryonic destabilizing gravity discs.

However, when they landed on the ship, they began to suspect that everything was not what it seemed.

"With their ship down, do you think the big freeze is over, Tech?" Ace asked as he, Brylee, Lexi and Tech stood over a fallen Viking.

They watched with interest as the Viking they were standing over lost its white and blue colour as it deactivated for good and turned a dull red all over.

"All of their power must come from the horns on these helmets," Tech observed, detaching the Viking's head from his body to prove his point.

"Anyone else on board, Rev?" Ace inquired.

Rev raced around the ship in a quick check, responding to Ace's question as he did, "Let's have a look. All clear forward. All clear port, starboard, bow. No Vikings and no spit wads. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm."

"Where did they go?" Brylee voiced the question everyone wanted to ask.

"First we see them. Now we don't. This game of battleship was all a distraction," Ace proclaimed, "Hey, Rev. Can you give me a read on them Nordic nut jobs?"

Rev did not respond to Ace's request verbally. Instead, he chose the physical form of expression. His eyes glowed red as his internal GPS locator began to work on locating the mutant Vikings. When he did, he used the triangle on his uniform to project their location to the other Loonatics.

"They're heading for the Planetary Power Grid!" Lexi cried in horror.

"That must have been what Zadavia was trying to tell us!" Ace realised.

"Not to alarm everybody. But if they freeze the city's power core…," Tech began.

"Everybody's going to have one bad case of frostbite," Brylee finished Tech's train of thought with a slight drawl.

* * *

As the team was coming to the realisation of the Viking's true motives, Gunnar was leading his remaining Vikings towards the Planetary Power Grid. With ease, Gunnar stepped on the security gate designed to block access to the grid.

"The power core is ours! Our mission cannot fail!" Gunnar decreed as he used the powers in his sword to blast the doors.

With the door down, Gunnar and his Viking army marched into the building. Standing in the centre of the room was the core that powered the whole city. Their target.

"Let the ice age begin," Gunnar sneered, "Set your weapons on maximum freezing!"

The Vikings slammed their weapons to the ground. Very much like it did during Gunnar's encounter with Ace, the ice began crawling across the ground, freezing everything in its path. It then began climbing up the powerful structure.

Not even something as powerful as the power core could withstand the ice.

* * *

Around her, Brylee noticed that everything was going dark. Looking ahead, she saw the tower, something that usually was a bright beacon from a distance, was as pitch black as the rest of the city below her.

"They got the core!" Brylee called to her brother.

"We have a certain amount of time before the damage becomes irreversible," Tech pointed out, "If we can unfreeze the core in time, we can save the city."

Brylee decided she could believe Tech. In their short time together as a team, they have come up against worse and they've managed to save the city before. She was more than certain that they could do it again.

* * *

The Vikings were continuing to freeze the power core that was still fighting. However, the core wasn't powerful enough to sustain the city.

"Eh, what's up, hornheads?"

When they heard the voice, the Vikings turned to the entrance in alarm.

The Loonatics were standing there, ready to fight them to save the city. They had thought that their plan to lead the Loonatics away from the city would work.

They were beginning to realize that they had underestimated their foes greatly.

"FREEZE THEM!" Gunnar roared.

"You've picked the wrong planet to invade, pally!" Ace decreed.

And with those words said, the battle had begun.

Ace leaped up and flipped over one of the Vikings that were charging at him. Smirking he turned around with his laser vision activated.

"Come on, you overgrown trashcan. Show me what you got," Lexi challenged.

The Viking seemed to accept the challenge and approached the young bunny. Lexi had anticipated this move. After all, these Vikings enjoyed a good challenge. But they certainly didn't enjoy a quick defeat. That was what happened to this particular Viking. All it took for Lexi to defeat him was a single brain blast to the chest.

Some people would say that two against one would be an unfair fight. Particularly if the team of two was significantly larger and stronger than their single opponent; like what was happening in the case of Duck and two Vikings. But Duck had an advantage of his own.

After pretending to cower away from them in fear, he teleported out of sight. Immediately, the two Vikings began looking around for the mallard. That is, until Duck appeared on top of the power core and knocked one of the Vikings down. When Duck looked behind him, he saw one of the Vikings about to fire his weapon at him. Knowing what was about to happen, Duck teleported away and the Viking he originally knocked down was frozen in his place.

"Come on, come on! How hard is it to deep fry a duck?!" Duck tormented as he threw eggs in the faces of two Vikings who were approaching him.

Blind, the two Vikings continued to run forward with their hands out, aiming to grab Duck. What they didn't know was that Duck had once again moved out of the way and they did not find out until they collided with one another.

Brylee and Tech were looking around, ready to attack a Viking that charged at them. They stopped walking backwards when they collided with each other.

"Hey, Tech. You have a way to turn the tables in our favor?" Brylee asked.

Normally, some people would have a problem with what Brylee was doing. Some people would say that Brylee was usurping the leadership from her brother. However, there were times where it amounted to something good. Besides, Ace was busy battling another Viking.

"I'll reprogram them! Just keep them busy!" Tech instructed.

"With pleasure," Brylee smirked.

Two Vikings approached them at that moment and went to strike at them. Brylee and Tech had quicker reflexes and managed to dodge the attack from the axe and hammer. Brylee used her beams to blast one of the Vikings; specifically towards its head. She used enough force to knock the Viking's head from its body, but not enough to damage the head. Tech grabbed the head and immediately went to a place where he could work.

"Bro!" Brylee called as she landed next to her brother, "We need to keep them busy! Tech's got a plan!"

Ace nodded and called to the other Loonatics, "Get them to use their freezing powers!"

Lexi was the first to catch on to the plan and taunted the Vikings as they repeatedly attempted to freeze her with their weapons, "Nope! Sorry! No dice! Your turn, Slam!"

Slam smirked, eager to get some action, and aimed his garbled speech at Gunnar.

Gunnar immediately understood what Slam said, and he was insulted, "You dare?!"

Slam activated his tornado powers and charged at the techno-Viking Chieftain. Roaring, the two charged at each other, eager for the confrontation to come. There was a bright flash as the two opposing elements collided. Slam's fire met Gunnar's ice. Unfortunately for Slam, Gunnar's powers were much stronger and he soon found himself beginning to feel overwhelmed by his enemy. Before long, Slam was knocked into a wall.

Another Viking decided to try and attack one of the Loonatics. He decided that his target shall be Lexi and that he will do it by doing the less noble option: attacking from behind. Lexi heard him coming and managed to dodge the attack.

"Tech, in position!" Ace called to the resident inventor as he was surrounded by a group of Vikings, "Please tell me you're almost ready!"

Tech didn't even lift up from his work of reprogramming the Viking's head as he answered, "You can't rush genius."

"No. But you can give it a swift kick in the can," Ace retorted as he began attacking the Vikings, "One Viking bites the ice! And another!"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, BUNNY!" Gunnar roared.

Gunnar aimed his weapon at Ace and fired, hoping to freeze the bunny again. Ace anticipated the attack and dodged, forcing the ice to freeze the ground instead.

"Bry, would you like to do the honours?" Ace smirked.

"Don't mind if I do," Brylee responded with a smirk.

Consuming her whole body in a beam, Brylee lifted herself up and charged at Gunnar feet first like a missile aimed for an enemy aircraft. The beam dissolved right at the sound of the impact to the centre of Gunnar's chest, charging into him.

"GOT IT, ACE!" Tech called over Gunnar's screams as he connected the head to the power point.

Mere seconds after Tech said those words, Gunnar collided with the power core. The resulting electrical shock was hurtled towards the nearest suitable circuit: Tech holding the Viking head connected to the control system for the power grid. Tech grimaced as he knew what was coming next was going to be painful.

Tech's cries of pain filled the room as his body and the Viking head was consumed by the electrical charge. The Viking helmet worked as a conduit feeding the electricity to various other points, including the remaining Vikings. Their energies immediately struck the conduits for the power core, shattering the ice that encased it and recharging it. Before long, all the conduits were recharged and the power core returned to life. Consequently, the blackout around the city ended.

"WE DID IT! IT WOIKED!" Ace cheered.

"The energy from the Vikings has recharged the power core!" Lexi said happily as she knelt beside Brylee, who had fallen to the ground after pushing Gunnar into the power core.

Everyone in the room was happy about the success of the mission…

Well, almost.

"Aw, Tech! I was just about to let them have it!" Duck moaned.

"Talk about taking one for the team," Tech grumbled.

Duck looked around, trying to figure out where Tech was. Then he saw the Viking helmet he had used to repower the power core lying on the ground. When he lifted the helmet, he saw that the electrical charge had turned Tech into a smouldering pile of ash.

"Tech?" Duck said in surprise, causing the coyote to whimper in response.

* * *

A few hours later, everything was back to normal at the Loonatics' headquarters. Ace was once again meditating with his sword in his hand. Lexi decided to jump into the beanbag that was next to Brylee and help her with her history homework when she noticed the youngest Loonatic was struggling slightly. Duck was, once again, in front of the mirror posing and trying to come up with a new name,

"Thunder Duck. Dazzling Duck. Dancing Duck. Super Duper Duck."

Tech meanwhile, had unfinished business with a pepperoni pizza he ordered. He placed one of his devices in the middle of the pizza and watched as it sliced the pizza pie into eight even slices. The device then lifted one of the slices out of the box and offered it to its inventor. Tech happily accepted the slice and began munching on it. He did love pepperoni pizza.

Apparently, so did someone else in the team.

"Pizza…"

The rumbling could be heard around the room as Slam came charging in, eager for a slice of pizza. All Tech had to do was point as Slam and his device charged at the Tasmanian Devil. To Slam's surprise, the device clamped itself around his mouth. He pouted, realizing that he would not be able to eat some of Tech's pizza.

"Uh-uh-uh, Slam," Tech chided, causing Slam to growl at the coyote.

The dilemma was forgotten momentarily when they heard the familiar buzzing. Everybody gathered around the projector in front of the television when Zadavia appeared before them.

"Loonatics, I just had to personally say to each and everyone of you job well done. The Ice Age is averted, the mutant techno-Vikings destroyed and Acmetropolis is safe," Zadavia decreed, "Thanks to you, Ace, Rev, Lexi, Brylee, Slam, Tech…"

Duck stood there, waiting for his name to be called by Zadavia in her praise. To his surprise – and disappointment – it never came.

"Good work, team. Zadavia out," Zadavia ended the call before disappearing.

"That's it? How could she forget me? I was standing right here!" Duck cried.

"Don't worry about it, Duck! You were fantastic!" Lexi praised.

"Oh yeah. Heroic," Ace nodded in agreement, although the joking tone was in his voice.

Duck scrawled and marched past his teammates, muttering, "Nobody disrespects this Duck."

"Yes?" Zadavia said once Duck activated the hologram again, knowing what was coming.

"Hello, Miss Zadavia. Duck here. I was wondering… Didn't you forget something?" Duck asked with a smirk.

"Oh yes. I suppose I did," Zadavia nodded before making the smug look on Duck's face disappear, "No more memos about changing your name. Danger Duck is self-explanatory and easy to remember. Request denied."

Brylee had to snicker at the exchange. She loved it whenever Zadavia shattered Duck's delusion of grandeur. In fact, she loved it when anything shattered his delusion of grandeur. If there was one thing the mallard needed, it was lessons in humility.

"Brylee," Zadavia began, successfully earning the teenager's attention, "Encasing yourself to battle Gunnar the Conqueror was a wise choice. However, if you wish to try and fly, I would wait for more stability that can obtained through practice. But keep up the good work."

"Thanks, Zadavia," Brylee nodded before the communication disconnected and the teenager noticed Duck scrawling next to her, "Well, look at the bright side, Duck. It's better than what she called you when we first got together."

"Fine," Duck sighed, "Danger Duck. I can live with that."

"Good! Because we like it too!" Ace decreed.

* * *

 **Meh. But you know, I'm just starting out doing this sort of thing again. I'm a little rusty.**

 **I actually have something important to say. On a few of my stories – particularly** _ **Strange Beginnings**_ **– I've noticed that some anonymous viewers have been saying some pretty mean stuff about either myself or some of the others who post a review. Some of those include suggestions that either myself or other reviewers commit suicide. This is something I cannot condone. And unfortunately, since the reviewer is anonymous, I cannot report the reviewer to the website. I can remove the reviews. I cannot stop the reviewer from posting whatever he or she wants. But there is another thing I can do.**

 **I have been forced to start moderating these anonymous reviews. If I deem the content to be inappropriate, they will NOT be seen. I actually remember a time where you can disable anonymous reviews altogether. Now, don't take any offense to this. Like I said, I love a lot of them. But…WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING REMOVING THAT OPTION?!**

 **I actually wish it was by someone who was actually using an account because it's easier to report to the website and you can actually block the account.**

 **Sorry for that little rant there. But it was something I had to get off my chest. I was actually a victim of bullying for a really long time – including some incidents where the person bullying me was one of my teachers – and this is something I take personally.**

 **Oh! Updates are gonna be slowing. I'm back at uni now. I would have had this up sooner. But I couldn't get it to upload using Safari for some reason. Thank God I also downloaded Google Chrome onto my Mac.**

 **BYE!**


	3. Almost Like a Movie

**Lesson learned from last chapter: use Google Chrome for doc manager uploads.**

 **I own nothing except for Brylee.**

 **ENJOY!**

… **or not…**

 **Before anyone says anything, I've actually done some research and I have heard stories of people being able to do certain form of martial arts (haven't heard anything good about jujitsu).**

* * *

Ace had begun teaching Brylee martial arts – specifically karate – when she was young and they got the all clear from her medical team to do her so because of her diabetes. He taught her as he was learning himself. By the time her mother died, she was the equivalent of an orange belt.

But when the meteor hit, Ace decided that Brylee had to step it up (within reason). When they weren't fighting crime, eating, sleeping or doing schoolwork, Ace would take Brylee into the virtual trainer and teach her more karate. Now, she is at the equivalent of a purple belt, meaning she has jumped up at least three levels.

That didn't stop Ace from training her. Now, he was pushing her towards the equivalent of a brown belt; the level where the student would begin training in the ancient art of Japanese weaponry.

At the moment, the two siblings were sparring. Traditionally in sparring sessions, Ace would also include various weapons to make sure his sister was prepared for any situation she may face in a mission and she could defend herself without having to rely completely on her powers.

Today, they were using sticks.

Ace had to admit that so far, he had been teaching his younger sister well. After all, he was her teacher and he had taught her everything she knew.

But he hasn't taught her everything _he_ knew.

Ace smirked when he saw his sister make a very common mistake in karate. Brylee reacted too late, leaving Ace an opening to make an attack. Within moments, Ace had Brylee on her back and he was pressing his stick into her shoulder.

"If this were a real mission, you'd be injured by now. Or worse. You have to work on your reaction time," Ace told her firmly, "A one second delay can be all it takes."

It was at that time that Lexi decided to come into the virtual trainer where not only Ace and Brylee were sparring, but Tech was working on another invention with Rev assisting him from another point in the room.

"Hey! Look what I got!" Lexi called, specifically to Ace and Brylee.

"In a sec, Lex!" Brylee responded.

Smirking, she retrieved her stick, whacked Ace in the side and knocked him to the ground before kneeling on his chest.

"What did you always say about not getting distracted?" Brylee smirked.

In the shadows, Slam was standing drooling at the object Lexi was holding. One of the positives about Slam is that, unlike a lot of people who are fussy eaters, Slam is willing to eat anything.

One of the negatives about Slam is that he is willing to eat _anything_.

Ace and Brylee saw the Tasmanian Devil coming before Lexi did. Regardless, Lexi was able to clutch the object close to her chest and duck as he jumped at her.

"Whoa! No eating my pet!" Lexi chided.

Since everyone ducked out of the way, Slam ended up flying across the room, colliding into the device Tech was working on before landing on a toolbox. Slam's collision with the weapon caused it to spin and activate, projecting a laser that could slice someone in half.

"Watch it, Slam! I'm trying to work-!" Tech was cut off after he was hit from behind with the butt of the machine.

Tech was sent flying a few feet and landed against the wall with his head and upper back on the ground. One downside was that the machine was still active. Its beam was approaching Tech and he gasped and tried to bend his body in the appropriate manner to avoid being hit with the beam.

Fortunately for Tech, the machine was going to far for the power cord's liking and it ended up detaching from the power point with seconds to spare. Tech visibly relaxed in relief. He knew he had molecular regeneration and heal any wound he received. But he preferred to avoid any pain if he could.

"What is that thing?" Brylee asked.

"It's a Fuz-Z," Lexi answered as she petted the small ball-shaped creature, causing it to chirp happily, "Oh, come on. Bio-pets are only the coolest trend to ever hit Acmetropolis!"

"Yeah? What do you hit it with?" Ace asked.

That caused Brylee to face-palm. Despite having a higher than average intelligence, Ace was more street smart than anything else. He was also one to never follow the trends (mainly because he didn't understand a lot of them). Also, sometimes, when it comes to girls – especially one he likes – he tended to make a fool out of himself.

She was suddenly fortunate about the fact she was not the only girl on the team.

"You don't hit it! You love it!" Lexi cried as she nuzzled the bio-pet, who was wrapping its small tail around her wrist, "She'll be whatever you want her to be. A glove. A choker. A cuddle-walker!"

"I suppose she is cute," Brylee mused as she bent down to examine the Fuz-Z closer.

"Then I suppose you won't object when I tell you I got one for you," Lexi smirked as she pulled out a different looking Fuz-Z to give to her.

This Fuz-Z was different to the Fuz-Z Lexi had decided to buy for herself. Lexi's Fuz-Z had a purple body with a lilac tail and pink hair on top of its head with its pupils being close to the color of Lexi's uniform.

Brylee's had a yellow-colored body with a tail that was a slightly brighter yellow and blue hair. Already, the creature began to form an attachment to Brylee, chirping happily in her hand and wrapping its tail around her wrist as he looked up at her with loving, adoring eyes.

"Lexi, he's adorable!" Brylee squealed happily as she stroked the little creature's cheek.

That caused Ace to smile. Before the meteor hit, Brylee was painfully lonely, and it was something that always broke his heart to see. In his eyes, Brylee was the best person to be around. She was kind, intelligent, beautiful; one would think everybody would be lining up and begging her to be their friend. But that was not the case. Before, Ace was the only one who truly cared about her. She wanted to fit in with everyone else, but they wouldn't let her.

When they joined the Loonatics, they gained five more members in their family. They all loved and accepted Brylee – especially Lexi, who decided to take the girl under her wing and be an 'older sister' to her. But the pain was still there.

Maybe this Fuz-Z would be good for her.

"Hold it right there, sister!"

Ace, Brylee and Lexi shouldn't be surprised that Duck appeared out of nowhere and ruin the moment.

"How did you get one of these, anyway?" Duck demanded as he took Lexi's Fuz-Z from her, "My Fuz-Z's been on backorder for weeks! Are you sure this one isn't supposed to be mine?"

Duck turned himself away from Lexi so she couldn't try to take her Fuz-Z back. Unfortunately, when he turned, he found himself face-to-face with Slam, who was still obsessed with the Fuz-Z. Immediately, Duck moved the Fuz-Z away from him, while also giving Lexi the opportunity to reclaim her pet.

"Back off, Duck! Zozo is mine!" Lexi snapped.

Duck couldn't help but laugh, "Zozo?" before noticing Brylee had a Fuz-Z, "I think that one is supposed to be mine."

"I bought that for her!" Lexi cut in, "What are you gonna name him anyway?"

Brylee took a closer look at the creature before deciding on a name, "Avery."

Ace was touched that his sister decided to name her pet after him. However, he couldn't say anything because Zadavia appeared on the screen in the training room.

"You're not going to believe this one, Loonatics," Zadavia began, "But there's a situation in South Acmetropolis that requires your special attention. A residential zone in the fourth quadrant seems to have a giant spider problem."

Zadavia's image disappeared and was replaced with three pictures. The first two pictures were of the damage that was done in the area she mentioned earlier. The third picture was of the 'giant spider' that had done the structural damage. The creature had a round body with six legs – two for walking, four 'arms' – three eyes that were glowing yellow and brown hair.

"Didn't they just spray for giant spiders last week?" Ace joked.

"This family barely escaped with their lives," Zadavia told them.

"Species? Origin?" Tech asked, eager to know what kind of creature this was so they knew what they were dealing with.

"Unknown and unknown," Zadavia answered.

"Forget where it came from! Where is it going?!" Duck demanded before quivering, "It's not coming here, is it?"

'The idea was for _you_ to go _there_ , Danger Duck," Zadavia said firmly.

"Must we?" Duck whimpered.

"Well, at least it's not a giant squid," Brylee shrugged casually.

Ace gave her a disapproving look, "Who let you watch _The Beast_?"

"I'll transfer coordinates in transit. Zadavia out," Zadavia finished the conversation.

"She gets to go out and we get to battle mutant spiders," Brylee surmised with a shrug, "Sounds good to me."

"Let's jet!" Ace cried.

* * *

The seven Loonatics stood in the launch bay as the hanger doors opened before them. Duck and Tech were the first to race forward and activate their jetpacks. When they were in the air, Slam and Rev followed. Ace, Lexi and Brylee went to follow, but Ace was stopped by the sound of familiar chirping. Ace grabbed Lexi's wrist and found Zozo attached to her wrist as a bracelet. When he grabbed Brylee's wrist, he saw his namesake.

"Maybe lose the wristband, girls," Ace suggested to the two.

"I don't wanna leave them here by themselves," Lexi objected.

"They can be our mascots!" Brylee suggested, hoping her brother would cave.

"How about…?" Ace pretended to think about it before handing down his sentence, "No."

"Fine," both girls grumbled.

As Ace took off, Lexi and Brylee removed their Fuz-Zs from their wrists and placed them on the table. They went to walk away and follow Ace. Then they heard the sad chirps and saw the sad little eyes the two creatures were giving them.

"I don't know about you, Lex, but I can't leave them here alone," Brylee sighed.

"They'll be lonely, won't they?" Lexi asked.

The two girls looked back to see if Ace had truly departed and was not watching to see if they truly were going to leave the Fuz-Zs and not smuggle them with them. Fortunately, Ace was not hanging around for them.

So the girls were able to sneak the two Fuz-Zs into their pockets.

* * *

"Alright. According to Zadavia's readings, we should be able to spot the itsy, bitsy spider right about…," Ace trailed off before the 'spider' burst from a building, "Now."

"WHOA! Look at that thing! It has three, no, four, no, five legs!" Duck cried in amazement before being hit by a leg he didn't see coming.

"Make that six legs!" Brylee called after Duck wryly.

Silently, they decided among themselves that Slam would make the first move. Slam landed on the road and sped towards the giant spider with his tornado powers. He grabbed one of the spider's legs and pulled to try and make it stop. Not liking this, the spider just lifted its leg and crushed Slam into the road with his foot.

Rev went in next, sliding under the spider fast enough to create a large crack in the road.

"Slight pothole problem," Ace drawled as she saw the cracks go towards the bridge.

The giant spider saw the direction Rev raced towards and followed. Drivers and pedestrians raced around trying to avoid the source of their nightmares.

"Gross! Can't we get the day off?!" Lexi whined.

"Heroes don't get the day off! It's rescue time!" Ace retorted, "Slam, let's give our friend a little help! What do you say?!"

Slam seemed to catch on to the implicit instruction Ace was conveying to him. The Tasmanian Devil charged at the spider again, grabbing one of its legs and dragging it forcefully onto the bridge.

"Hey, itsy bitsy! Over here!" Rev called as he ran in circles around the bridge.

"We've got to contain this monster now," Tech muttered to himself, "Clear the bridge, Ace! Then remove the four bolts in each column!"

"You got it, Tech!" Ace nodded.

Brylee and Tech worked together to remove the bolts on one side of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, Ace melted the bolts while Lexi used a controlled brain blast to remove the cables without accidentally hitting anyone.

Slam and Rev continued distracting the spider so it wouldn't catch on and escape. Once the others were done removing any source of support from the bridge, Slam and Rev cleared out.

"Now let's lock them up!" Ace cried as he, Lexi, Tech and Brylee pushed on the bridge with the full force of the jetpacks behind them, "Clear out, everybody!"

Slam, Rev and Duck flew as far away from the bridge as they could while remaining in close vicinity to the action in case they were needed. Pushing the bridge down took Ace, Tech, Brylee and Lexi very little effort. Within moments, the bridge was fallen to the ground below and landed with a loud bang, filling the area with smoke.

When the smoke cleared, they were surprised by what they saw.

The bridge was still in one piece. That wasn't what surprised them. The bridge was designed to withstand practically anything.

What surprised them was the fact the makeshift cage was empty.

"You've got to be kidding!" Ace cried, "How did it get out of there?"

The team decided to investigate and they landed inside the makeshift cage, converting their jetpacks into normal jetpacks along the way.

"Very impressive," Brylee mused.

"Itsy bitsy go bye-bye," Lexi added.

"There's got to be an explanation!" Tech thought aloud..

"Oh man! I can't believe it!" Duck gushed as he picked up a very familiar creature, "Check it out! I found a Fuz-Z and this one is mine! Look! I've got my very own superhero sidekick! How about it, Wonderfluff?! Yeah! That works!"

Duck's happiness was short-lived when Ace came forward and snatched the creature from the mallard.

"Excuse me!" Duck yelled as he glared at his leader.

Ace hummed before saying, "Big spider pulls a disappearing act and we find a hard-to-get bio-pet in its place. What are the odds?"

Tech thought about the answer before revealing, "4,027,867 to one."

"Kind of high on the coincidence metre, don't you think?" Ace asked rhetorically.

"Oh come on, Ace! Don't tell me you're going to try to blame this on a harmless little bio-pet!" Brylee cried in disbelief.

"Until we come up with something better, yeah," Ace nodded as he pulled out a container from his backpack and deposited Wonderfluff into it.

Lexi and Brylee stiffened in alarm when they heard the chirpings of their own bio-pets.

Ignoring the weird look Ace was giving them, they walked away from the group and dug into their backpacks, pulling out Zozo and Avery.

"Oh, how can anyone think bio-pets are anything but sweet?" Lexi cooed as she stroked Zozo's cheek.

To the girls' horror, Zozo and Avery suddenly jumped out of their hands, bouncing towards the group.

"Zozo! Avery! Come back here!" Brylee hissed.

To their horror, they jumped into Duck's backpack. They will never hear the end of this one. Wonderfluff followed, jumping out of his containment cage and into Duck's backpack.

"Sorry. Guess they just like me better. Now I have three superhero sidekicks! How cool is that?!" Duck cheered smugly.

"You had to bring the fuzz," Ace said as he glared at the two girls, causing them to shrug sheepishly.

"There's a party going on in your backpack," Lexi pointed out.

"Duck, what do you have in there?" Brylee asked.

"Oh, I never go out without some chocolate ab-inducer bars. They must be hungry," Duck remarked as he pulled the three Fuz-Zs out of his backpack, only to be surprised by what he saw, "Hey, what is this? OUCH!"

Duck, Brylee and Lexi watch in horror as their beloved Fuz-Zs began to whimper and contort in pain as new limbs began to push out of their small round bodies.

"Zozo?!" Lexi gasped.

"Wonderfluff?!" Duck said in confusion.

"Avery?!" Brylee cried.

Roars and snarls replaced the delicate whimpers and chirps they were used to hearing from the Fuz-Zs as they grew larger and more vicious. Now, they looked like the creature that was terrorizing the city moments before. Three glowing eyes. Six legs. Large bodies. They were even drooling.

"I'm not sure Wonderfluff has had all his shots," Duck drawled, "Anyone want to buy a bio-pet cheep?"

"DUCK!" Ace cried.

"What?!" Duck demanded, only to be slapped by Zozo.

Zozo and Avery decided they were going to go after the other Loonatics. Wonderfluff decided that Ace, who wanted him in that cage, would be his next target.

The way Ace and Wonderfluff moved around each other was almost like a dance. Wonderfluff would make his move and Ace would respond in kind. Well, 'respond in kind' by avoiding its legs. Then Ace got smacked into a wall.

"Smacked down by a fuzz ball?! You realize, of course, this means war!" Ace snarled before detaching himself from the wall, his eyes glowing yellow, "Hit it, Loonatics!"

"WAIT!" Brylee cried as she grabbed her brother's arm.

"Hey! What gives?!" Ace demanded as he glanced down at the young girl who was both his younger sister and his ward.

"Just be gentle with Avery, OK? He's had a rough day," Brylee pleaded.

All that was forgotten when the aforementioned giant Fuz-Z took a swipe at the siblings. As much as Brylee had already begun to love Avery – who was her first real friend – she had to remember that it was a mission.

Slam was the next Loonatic to attempt to subdue at least one of the giant Fuz-Zs. His target was Zozo since both Wonderfluff and Avery were preoccupied. He charged at the creature with his tornado powers, but he wasn't expecting the creature to grab him and toss him to the side.

Rev and Duck tag-teamed against Zozo. Rev ran in a figure-eight formation around her legs to distract her while Duck prepared to throw eggs at her.

"Here, Zozo! Catch!" Duck challenged as he threw the eggs at her feet.

Normally, the substance that would be inside the eggs would randomize. Sometimes, Duck could control them. Sometimes, he couldn't control them. Most of the time, though, the substance that would come out of his eggs would be what they needed.

This was definitely the case.

The substance that came out of his eggs was tar. Hot, sticky, black tar that was hard to get out of once trapped in its grasp. Eventually, in her efforts to escape, Zozo lost her balance and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Once again, Slam went to charge at the fallen Fuz-Z.

"SLAM! WAIT!" both Lexi and Brylee cried as Wonderfluff and Avery stood between Slam and Zozo.

Slam stopped in confusion, wondering why the girls would want him to stop. They must have been seeing something he didn't.

Wonderfluff stood there, snarling at the creature standing below him. Then, he stopped. He began grumbling in pain and clutching his head. Within moments, the monstrous creature was replaced with the adorable bio-pet that was stealing hearts around Acmetropolis. Wonderfluff chirped happily and jumped into Duck's waiting hands. Zozo and Avery transformed into their original state not long after and jumped into the waiting hands of Lexi and Brylee.

The strange thing was it was as though nothing had happened.

"What's gotten into these powder puffs?" Ace voiced the question everyone wanted to know.

"Something powerful."

The team looked up to see Zadavia's holographic image on the large television screen on the top of a nearby building that was used for advertisements and other uses.

"Powerful, yet easy to access," Brylee pointed out as they flew up to be eye-level with her.

Well, as eye-level one can get with a hologram.

"Good point, Brylee. The boy with the first Fuz-Z fed it a whole stash of chocolate candy before going to bed," Zadavia revealed.

"And our Fuz-Zs ate Duck's chocolate!" Lexi cried.

"Professor Zane's laboratory is located in the seventh quadrant just east of the industrial centre," Zadavia informed them.

"The guy who invented these hairballs better know a way to curb their sweet tooth because Acmetropolis is crawling with them," Ace observed.

He was right. If they were to group ten people together, nine of them would have a Fuz-Z. There were more and more Fuz-Zs being purchased all over.

"It is going to take a miracle to gather up all these Fuz-Zs. I can get about half of them. But we're gonna need something amazing to get the rest of them," Rev told them.

They all looked down at the street below. Everybody below them had a Fuz-Z. They were doing various things with them. Cuddling them. Showing them the world around them. Using them as various accessories. There was even a street performer using at least four Fuz-Zs as juggling balls.

If they were going to end the Fuz-Z epidemic before things took a turn for the worse, they had to do it fast.

* * *

"I reckon Tech has something we can use," Brylee smirked as they all gathered in Tech's laboratory.

"I give you the X-O Vac 2400-X!" Tech boasted proudly.

With a press of a button, the door opened to reveal the aforementioned invention. It was the shape of a ship, but it had all the parts of a vacuum cleaner.

"Wow, Tech!" Ace gasped.

"It's the ultimate urban vacuum!" Tech added with a proud smile.

"Now what in the world made you come up with this?!" Ace demanded.

Tech was known to invent practically anything and everything he felt would be useful to the team both in the field and in their home life at their headquarters. He invented everything from the communication technology they rely on in their uniforms to their weapons to Brylee's insulin pump. But this was something Ace was curious about.

"Try eating with Slam. Not pretty," Tech drawled, causing Slam to throw grumbled profanities at the coyote.

"Hyper shield capabilities. Zero to sixty in three seconds flat. Twin sonic gravity stabilizers. Programmable rolling suction. Also comes with a bio-signature targeting beam that can target and retrieve a Fuz-Z and not innocent bystanders! You've gotta love that, huh?! We so rock in this lab!" Rev proclaimed. **(AN: Sorry to interrupt, but that was a total guess. Damn Rev for speaking so fast!)**

"So long story short, this invention sucks. Fuz-Zs, that is," Brylee surmised.

* * *

"Loonatics, let's jet!" Ace cried before everybody's main objective was heard, "Lexi, you, Duck and Brylee go warn this Zane guy. He could be in danger from his own creation. The rest of us will work on rounding up the fur balls that are still out there."

With that said, the seven Loonatics split up with their missions assigned. Ace, Slam and Tech were excavating the Fuz-Zs with the X-O Vac 2400-X with Ace in the driver's seat, Tech monitoring the systems and Slam controlling the hose. Rev went around Acmetropolis with a large bag retrieving as many Fuz-Zs as he could.

Duck, Lexi and Brylee were heading to Professor Zane's laboratory using the coordinates Zadavia had provided them earlier when they realized the key behind the Fuz-Z's transformation. Professor Zane invented the Fuz-Zs. So he had to know a way to stop them and rid them of their obsession with chocolate.

"I don't think anyone's home," Brylee observed once they landed.

"No. Someone's in there. I can here breathing inside," Lexi corrected.

Brylee shrugged. She surmised that Lexi used her super hearing to see if there was anyone inside the building.

"Showoff," Duck grumbled as he followed the two girls.

Lexi pushed open the large door. There were no lights on in the lab. No machines doing some form of monitoring. There weren't even any signs of an experiment.

"Hello?! Professor Zane?!" Brylee called into the empty space.

"We've come about your bio-pets! We have reason to believe that they're very, very-!"

Lexi stopped her explanation when the overhead lights suddenly turned on and revealed who was in the lab.

Or what was in the lab.

Three Fuz-Zs stood before them. They weren't the adorable Fuz-Zs sending Acmetropolis in a stir with desire. They were Fuz-Zs post-chocolate.

"Well, it looks like they've had their chocolate today," Duck drawled.

"I just hope it's all they crave," Brylee remarked. The chocolate was bad enough. They didn't really want to add anything else to the list.

"Not only do they love chocolate…"

Duck, Brylee and Lexi turned towards the direction the voice was coming from. They heard the sound of a wrapper – a chocolate wrapper – being ripped open. With the press of the button, a light activated and illuminated the man from the shadows.

The man was Professor Zane.

"But they also have a taste for duck and rabbit and are always looking to expand their pallet. And guess what? It's feeding time!"

Duck, Lexi and Brylee froze in horror when Professor Zane finished his sentence. There was more to this than they originally first thought. But they never thought it got this far.

What did they get themselves into?

* * *

Meanwhile, things were going better for Ace, Slam, Tech and Rev. They had no problem going around Acmetropolis retrieving all of the Fuz-Zs.

"Vacuum capacity: good. Suction: stable," Tech reported.

"How are you doing back there, Slam?" Ace inquired.

At the back of the ship, Slam was operating the vacuum hose, pointing it in various directions to make sure that they got all of the Fuz-Zs in Acmetropolis. As always, Slam's garbles were hard to understand. But the underlying meaning was still there. Things were going well for the Tasmanian Devil.

The citizens cried out in surprise when their Fuz-Zs were suddenly taken from them. For some of them, they watched as their Fuz-Z was sucked into a flying vacuum cleaner.

For others, they were taken by a certain Roadrunner.

"Excuse me. Coming through!"

"Whoa! What was that?!" one boy cried.

"You mind if a borrow this for a while. Sorry. This is a no-fuzz zone," Rev said to various citizens before disappearing.

One woman was petting her Fuz-Z affectionately when she heard them coming. She hid her Fuz-Z behind her back, hoping none of the Loonatics would notice. The urban vacuum didn't detect the Fuz-Z. Neither did Rev at first.

"I'm picking up something on my sensor. Yes! There's one remaining bio-pet!" Rev realized as he saw the woman wrap the Fuz-Z around her neck like a collar, "Hello! Maybe you should think about getting a cat instead if you want something to cuddle! They're just as cute and furry. Of course, cats don't do tricks and can be prickly. So if you don't mind… Bye!"

"Mission accomplished. How are things on your end, Lex?" Ace spoke into his communicator built into his wrist.

To his surprise, he got nothing but static. Lexi didn't try to answer the call. Usually, she was on top of communication and always answered the first time. Even if she was busy fighting the bad guy, she would at least acknowledge. Even if it was with a, 'Give me another minute'.

"Lex?" Ace tried again, only to receive the same static response as before, causing a feeling of dread to suddenly wash over the bunny, "I've got a bad feeling."

After all, if Lexi wasn't answering, there was a high chance she was in trouble. And if she Lexi was in trouble, there was a high chance Brylee and Duck were too.

"Let's ditch the fuzz balls for now, Tech, and bug out!" Ace ordered.

Immediately, Ace turned the ship around back towards headquarters. About three-quarters of the way up, a bit below the globe where they were living, a door opened at the location of Tech's lab and a part of the floor came out. With the press of a button, the cargo container containing all the Fuz-Zs detached from the main hull and rockets guided the container to a safe landing on the floor before it was pulled into Tech's lab.

"Switching to turbo vac jet mode," Tech reported as he pressed a button.

With the press of the button, the rockets on the rear of the ship moved further out as some of the vacuum instruments stretched out to form wings. Ace pushed the lever forward and powered the rockets towards the seventh quadrant.

Rev looked up and saw his teammates suddenly head in another direction without the cargo container with the Fuz-Zs.

"Hey wait up!" Rev called as he bolted after them.

* * *

"So you knew all along chocolate mutated the Fuz-Zs!" Lexi accused.

In the time between the present moment and when they arrived at the lab, Professor Zane officially captured Lexi, Duck and Brylee. Rather than chain them to a pole or lock them in cages or perhaps tie them up and dangle them over a tank containing a giant squid, he decided to have the Fuz-Zs hold them hostage. Each of the three Loonatics were held hostage by a different Fuz-Z, and they were all drooling in hunger.

Brylee didn't even bother to try and hide how much the situation was creeping her out. It was creeping her out a lot more than a lot of the movies she watched behind her brother's back.

"Knew?! I made sure of it!" Professor Zane said eagerly, "My first two Fuz-Zs weren't supposed to transform so soon. Not until I had completely flooded the city with bio-pets. One pulse from my electric leash and the savage beasts are under my control."

"So you wanted all the Fuz-Zs to take the chocolate express to creatureville at the same time and tear Acmetropolis part!" Lexi cried in horror.

"Sounds like someone's mummy didn't buy them enough chockies when they were widdle," Duck smirked.

"Oh, you're just as naïve as the Acmetropolis Science Council," Professor Zane sneered, "Imagine. Firing me because they deemed my experiments too… _dangerous_. They never appreciated me or my genius, my…"

"Insanity? Craziness? Am I getting somewhere here?" Brylee wryly asked.

"Hardly!" Professor Zane scoffed, "I decided Acmetropolis needed to see firsthand what I am capable of. When the meteor hit Earth, the impact opened all kinds of fishers."

"Including the ones in your brain, Mr. Zane?" Duck asked sarcastically.

"I discovered these delightful creatures. Their biology was perfect for the experiments I had in mind. Experiments that lead to the Fuz-Z," Professor Zane continued his explanation, "So cute and cuddly until they have a bit of chocolate. Then the only way to stop them is with this."

Brylee realized that this scene resembled a lot of the movies she used to watch as a child. If this were a spy movie, this would be the scene where the hero was captured by the villain and placed in a near-death situation (like, having the hero dangle above a tank filled with electric eels) as the villain boasted about his great plan, thinking that the hero would never be able to stop him.

In Brylee's case, she and her friends were about to be fed to the mutated Fuz-Zs.

"Care to demonstrate?" Lexi grunted as they both fought with the hungry creatures.

"No. They need their protein," Professor Zane smirked.

If Brylee remembered correctly, this was also the part where the hero escaped death and would eventually battle the villain. This was usually done by either the hero finding a flaw in the situation that was holding them captive, or where their friends would barge in.

In this case, the latter occurred.

The X-O Vac 2400-X Tech had invented blasted through the wall, slowing to a stop.

"See? Too much chocolate will make you sick," Ace quipped.

"Amen, brother," Brylee smirked.

Seeing the chance, Brylee, Duck and Lexi escaped the Fuz-Z's grasp. Duck 'quacked' himself out while Lexi did a karate chop on the Fuz-Z's hands. Brylee used her light beam to temporarily blind the Fuz-Z, distracting it enough for the grip to loosen.

Ace, Slam, Tech and Rev eventually joined Brylee, Duck and Lexi on the ground. They were preparing to fight the three mutated Fuz-Zs standing before them. However, Professor Zane decided to tip the scales in his favor by pulling a lever, causing containers filled with thousands of Fuz-Zs to fall from the roof. When the containers shattered, the Fuz-Zs began leaking out.

Ace and Brylee barely avoided being hit by one.

"Dear me. What kind of host have I been?! Would anyone care for some chocolate?" Professor Zane smirked evilly as he pushed another lever, causing tons of chocolate to leak into the laboratory, "The affect is temporary, but the more they eat, the longer they last."

"Then no more chocolate for them," Ace proclaimed, "Slam, Rev, time for a little candy run!"

Slam certainly didn't need to be told twice. Unlimited access to food?! He couldn't activate his tornado power and put it on suction fast enough!

Slam sucked up as much chocolate as he could before leaving to find somewhere the Fuz-Zs couldn't reach to get the chocolate. Although, they had to wonder if Slam was eating a lot of the chocolate himself.

Rev zoomed in and gathered as much chocolate in his arms as he could before heading to the same area Slam was appropriating to dump the chocolate. However, in Rev's case, a lot of chocolate was falling from the pile.

"Duck, the control box!" Ace yelled, pointing to Professor Zane and the box.

"What about it?" Duck asked, genuinely confused, before remembering what it did, "Oh right! Heads up!"

Professor Zane didn't see the hit coming until it was too late. Once again, the substance that was in Duck's egg was tar. The same tar that trapped Zozo on the bridge. In his shock, Professor Zane dropped the control box.

"I've got it!" Duck shouted as he dove and grabbed the control box while Professor Zane ran around yelling while trying to remove the tar from his face.

For Lexi, Brylee and Duck, the horror of the situation was about to get worse. The trio had briefly forgotten that their own bio-pets were still in their pockets. By the time they realized, they were heading to join the other Fuz-Zs at the chocolate pile.

"ZOZO!" Lexi cried.

"AVERY!" Brylee screamed.

"WONDERFLUFF! NO!" Duck pleaded.

Duck was too distracted by Wonderfluff getting out of his pocket that he didn't notice that Professor Zane was able to remove the tar from his face until the latter went to reclaim the control box.

"Hey! This is no time to dance!" Duck grunted as he fought with the professor.

Not long after consuming some of the chocolate, the three Fuz-Zs transformed into the mutant spiders that had caused the trouble that got them involved to begin with. Ace, Lexi and Tech were able to duck as one of them swiped at them. Brylee wasn't as lucky as the Fuz-Z lifted her off the ground.

"Hang on, Brylee!" Tech called.

Using his magnetic powers, he detached a decent length of handrail from the walkway that stood above the laboratory. He then proceeded to wrap the metal around the creature's legs, theorizing that if the Fuz-Z lost its balance, it would fall over and let go of Brylee in the chaos of it all.

Tech's theory was proven correct. He just didn't count for the fact that it would nearly crush Duck and Professor Zane along the way.

In the chaos of that theory, both Duck and Professor Zane lost the control box. They both charged after it.

Tech and Lexi went to join them, but they were snatched up by Zozo.

"NOT AGAIN! ACE!" Lexi screamed.

"On it, Lex!" Ace responded.

Immediately, he jumped over various obstacles – including one mutated Fuz-Z – to obtain the control box. He was unable to, however, avoid being snatched up by a Fuz-Z.

"Not so fast, Zaney!" Ace sneered as he carefully aimed his laser vision near the box.

Professor Zane cried as the laser pushed the control box away from his grasp. Brylee immediately used a beam to grab it mid-air and pulled it towards her. She aimed the box to the Fuz-Zs and, to the professor's horror, pressed the button.

"No snacking, guys. You don't want to spoil your dinner," Brylee chided.

"MY BABIES! NO!" Professor Zane cried.

* * *

The Loonatics went back to the chasm where Professor Zane discovered the Fuz-Zs. Professor Zane was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment at Acmetropolis Prison. So there was one thing that was left for them to do.

They had to release the Fuz-Zs back to where they belonged.

Slam was releasing the Fuz-Zs they had captured with the X-O Vac Tech invented. Lexi, Duck and Brylee were taking the time to say goodbye to their own Fuz-Zs.

"Time to go," Lexi decreed, causing Zozo to chirp sadly and wrap its tail around her neck, "Oh come on. You'll be much happier there. No deranged scientist to mess with you and no chocolate. Let's hope."

"You know, you were my first real friend named by the person I idolized the most. But you know what they say. If you love someone, you have to let them go. I'm gonna miss you," Brylee sighed.

"I salute you. You've been a brave soldier, Wonderfluff. I also fear you, but let's not go there now," Duck chuckled slightly at the last sentence.

Duck, Brylee and Lexi approached the edge of the chasm and let their friends go. They continued to stare down the chasm until the colorful dots disappeared. Ace stepped forward and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, knowing that out of the three of them, Brylee would be taking this the hardest.

Tech pressed a button on his communicator and began projecting Zadavia's image. They still had the final briefing to do.

"Congratulations, Loonatics. Thanks to your events, Professor Zane's nefarious operation was shut down. Take the rest of the day off. You deserve it," Zadavia decreed before ending the communication with her traditional sign-off, "Zadavia out."

"You know, Fuz-Zs are so over! I've already moved on to the next big thing! Take a look at this!" Duck boasted as he brought out a little cage filled with a miniature circus.

"A look at what?" Lexi demanded, not seeing what Duck was boasting.

"Oh, a little hamster playhouse," Ace drawled.

"No! A little flea circus!" Duck corrected.

"I don't see any fleas," Brylee retorted.

"Looks like there's a hole in the box," Tech observed.

"Oh great! So where are the fleas?" Duck asked.

The fleas had escaped and latched themselves to various strands from Duck's feathers on his rear. Duck learned this for himself when he felt them painfully bite the skin on his rear.

Brylee couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing. It truly was like a movie.

Right down to the bit of comic relief.

* * *

 **It is like a movie, isn't it?**

 **Next chapter won't be an episode. Instead, it'll be a bonding moment for Brylee and one of the Loonatics. I couldn't do this without a bit of bonding between Brylee and the other Loonatics.**

 **BYE!**


	4. Sisters

**I knew there was a reason I rated this story T.**

 **The bonding chapter is going to be between Brylee and Lexi.**

 **I own nothing except for Brylee.**

 **ENJOY!  
**

… **or not…**

* * *

It was about two in the morning when it happened.

Brylee was feeling funny, so she had woken up, thinking her blood glucose levels were too low. They were in the normal range when she checked them before going to bed, but slightly on the lower side of the normal range, so she knew that there was a possibility of them dropping as she slept.

Then she saw the blood.

Her pajama pants were soaked and consequently, it had leaked onto her sheets. Immediately, she began checking herself for cuts or wounds that could cause this much blood to appear, but found none.

She didn't know what was going on, and honestly, she was terrified. But she didn't know who to turn to.

She immediately knew she couldn't turn to Duck. He would just tease her relentlessly and that was the last thing she needed at the moment. Rev would be too busy freaking out over the amount of blood to be of any help (the poor roadrunner couldn't really handle seeing a lot of blood and this would push him over the edge). Slam, who is usually kind and eager to help out, wouldn't understand this. Tech…well, she actually didn't know what Tech would do in this situation. So she decided to use him as a last resort. She definitely couldn't turn to Ace. The last thing she needed was him freaking out.

So that left Lexi.

Fortunately for Brylee, Lexi's bedroom was right across the hall from hers, so she didn't have far to go. With the sudden onset of cramps she was having, she was thankful that the distance was relatively short.

Slightly hunched over in pain – and praying to God none of the boys woke up – she got out of bed and left her bedroom. The pain was almost making her cry. But at least she made it to Lexi's bedroom across the hall.

When they first moved into the building, Tech installed a buzzer next to each of their doors that would tell them if someone was outside their bedroom. The system acted like a doorbell that only the person inside the room would hear. Everyone found that this didn't disturb them as much as the sound of someone making a commotion outside to get the person's attention.

Fortunately for Brylee, Lexi answered at the first buzz. At first, she was rubbing her eyes and barely paying attention as she was still half-asleep.

Then she saw the blood and was immediately wide awake.

"Can you help me?" Brylee pleaded.

Nodding, Lexi helped Brylee into her bedroom and shut the door behind them. Immediately, she helped the teenager into her personal bathroom and sat her on the tub.

"It's OK, Brylee," Lexi reassured her as she placed a comforting arm on the girl's shoulders.

"Is this normal?" Brylee asked.

"Of course this is normal," Lexi chuckled, "Every girl gets her period."

"Is that what this is?" Brylee questioned.

Lexi was originally planning to get the shower running and telling the young girl to shower and clean up while she went back to her room to get her clean clothes, clean underwear and put fresh sheets on her bed until she said that. This made her frown in worry.

"Didn't your mum talk to you about this?" Lexi wanted to know, "Or anyone else?"

"Well, before mum died, she was too busy at the hospital or the free clinic, I had no female relatives – or any for that matter – and no friends I could've talked to about this. So no," Brylee drawled, "And could you imagine Ace if I asked him about anything relating to female body parts?"

That caused Lexi to laugh. Living together and working together to save the world on a daily basis allowed everyone to get to know each other very well. Something they learned quickly was how clueless Ace was concerning girls and _situations_ that girls endure.

Suddenly, Brylee was thankful that there was at least one other girl on the team she could turn to for girl problems. Because honestly, she couldn't imagine bringing this up with Zadavia without things being awkward between them.

"Well, this is a completely normal process in becoming a woman, Brylee. Of course, the first one is completely scary. At least yours started at the comfort of your own home where you had someone you could turn to. Mine started in the middle of my routine in a gymnastics competition. Let's just say there was blood everywhere and that it was the most embarrassing moment of my life," Lexi recalled.

"Poor you," Brylee laughed slightly.

Lexi laughed as well as she grabbed a little tub that just happened to be nearby and filled it with cold water. Getting blood out of clothing and linen was challenging. The sooner she started at least soaking the items, the easier it will be to get out.

"I'm gonna go get some salt. I want you to hop in the shower. Trust me. You'll feel better," Lexi said to her as she reached in and turned the shower on once the tub was filled, "I'll get you some fresh clothes. Leave your pajamas in the sink."

With those words said, Lexi left the bathroom, only to come back ten seconds later with the container for her insulin pump as well as her diary, a pen and the equipment she needed to check her blood sugar levels. The insulin pump Tech invented for her was infinitely better than the pump she had before the meteor hit by far, but like any other regular pump, she couldn't have it in contact with water that was a certain temperature for long periods of time so she wouldn't spoil the insulin that was in the pump.

Quickly, she checked her sugar levels. It was still around the same it was when she checked it before she went to bed, she observed as she went to note the levels as well as the date and time of the check in her diary – in the normal range, but on the low side.

So she couldn't afford to have a long shower – no matter how much she wanted to – because she couldn't afford to be off her pump for too long.

She had no idea how long she was in the shower for, but by the time she finished and turned off the shower, Lexi was standing there ready to hand Brylee her towel.

"Thanks," Brylee sighed as she took the fluffy towel that she read was a crystal color.

"You feeling better?" Lexi inquired.

"A little bit. Still in pain," Brylee answered as she slid on her underwear, barely noticing the sanitary pad Lexi had stuck on.

"Figured you would be," Lexi remarked as she handed her a cup, "Did some research after I put your clothes and sheets in the wash. Found that a small cup of hot water with a hint of ginger helps relieve cramps and keep you hydrated."

At first, Brylee grimaced. If there was one thing in the world she hated as much, maybe more, than a lot of the villains she had encountered with the Loonatics, it was ginger. Then another wave a pain hit her and she was desperate enough to suck it up and drink the contents of the cup, screwing her face as she swallowed at both the taste of ginger and the temperature of the water.

At least she won't have to suffer often.

"Don't worry. Soon, you'll get the hang of it," Lexi reassured her, "Before you know it, all of this will become second nature to you. Before you know it, you'll be a pro at getting blood out of your clothes and sheets. I also found out that while you are still in the normal age range for girls to get their first periods, you've started later than most girls because of your diabetes."

"Why do we get them anyway?" Brylee asked.

"I don't think this is a conversation to have at three in the morning," Lexi said wryly, "I will tell you everything you need to know at a more humane hour. I just hope Zadavia doesn't call with a mission."

"Me too," Brylee agreed as she reattached her pump.

"I can tell you that you and I will need to go shopping. You will need what I like to call a 'girl kit' and all the provisions you will need to be prepared for the next one," Lexi declared.

Brylee almost moaned when she heard Lexi mention going through this again. Then she remembered one thing she realized watching girls in her high school. This is a monthly event.

"Yippee," Brylee cheered sarcastically.

"Seriously. Anytime you need anything, feel free to tell me. No matter what time it is. I think I'm the better option compared to the others," Lexi laughed.

That made Brylee laugh. Considering her other options were six guys – one of them being her older brother – Lexi was the best option.

"And, we are going to have a girls weekend," Lexi proclaimed, "I hear Acme Pueco's relaxing."

"Do you honestly think that Zadavia is going to let us have time off?" Brylee asked, knowing that their mysterious benefactor rarely allowed them vacation time.

Mainly because they had a job that didn't allow them much vacation time to begin with.

"We hardly get time off. And honestly. What can happen in a weekend?" Lexi questioned rhetorically.

Brylee still responded with a, "Shut up. You'll jinx it."

Lexi just laughed, "Come on. I think your sheets and clothes would be done by now."

Grasping hands, Lexi and Brylee headed to the laundry room where, sure enough, they found the cycle was finished for her pajamas and sheets. As they examined them and Lexi taught her how to get any excess blood out so she was prepared for the next one, they had an unexpected visitor.

"What are you guys doing up?" Ace yawned as he walked into the washroom, "You two are aware of the hour, right?"

"Yeah," Lexi and Brylee nodded, not bothering to look up from their task.

"So what are you doing scrubbing Brylee's sheets?" Ace inquired.

"It's best to do it as soon as possible before the blood sets in," Brylee shrugged.

"Blood?!" Ace squeaked.

"Your little girl's a woman," Lexi smirked.

Ace's reaction was to beat his head into the doorframe, much to their amusement.

"It had to happen eventually," Brylee shrugged.

"I was hoping it wouldn't be at 14," Ace moaned.

"Going on 15, thank you very much!" Brylee threw in.

"She's actually at the right age, Ace. If it wasn't coming, I'd be a little worried. Even for a Type One Diabetic," Lexi pointed out.

Ace just sighed as he rubbed his eyes. He was sort of prepared for this day to come, but he, too, had done the research on this aspect for Type One Diabetics. He knew that for them, this would be coming later than regular teenager girls.

But he still prayed that his little sister would stay _little_ for just a little while longer.

"So are you feeling alright? Are your levels okay?" Ace asked worriedly.

"They're fine. But we're probably gonna have to set up a consultation with Doctor Haddock or Nurse Delaney just so we know if there is anything specific we need to do," Brylee suggested.

"I'll call them when their office opens," Ace nodded, knowing that at least he would feel better if they consulted her medical team and asked the appropriate questions, "For now, try and get a little bit more sleep."

Brylee sighed as Ace finally left her and Lexi alone. She was tired, but too wired to go to sleep.

"Come on. You need to at least try to rest for a couple more hours. You'll feel better if you do," Lexi pointed out, "Come on. You can rest on my hammock."

By the time they got to Lexi's room, Brylee was already half asleep. By the time her head hit the pillow, she was dead to the world. Lexi let out a quiet laugh as she tucked Brylee into her sheets.

Lexi had a younger sister, but they were too different, so they never got along. While Lexi was a cheerleader in high school and tried out for the cheerleading squad at Acmetropolis University the day of the meteor hit, she was not like the negative stereotypical cheerleaders that are always portrayed in the media. Sure. She was into fashion and cared about her looks, but that was as close as she got.

Lexi also followed rules (albeit, she also made sure she didn't like some of them). Whenever she went out, she always was home by her curfew unless something happened or it was already decided she was spending the night with a friend. She did her chores. Worked part-time to get through high school. Studied hard (she was never a straight-A student, but she never failed any of her subjects). Showed respect to everybody (even those who barely showed her respect).

Her sister, on the other hand, was the total opposite. She didn't follow the rules. She flouted her curfew. She did not bother to do her chores or get a part-time job (and if she managed to get a part-time job, she would be fired within the month). Last Lexi heard, she was barely getting the necessary marks to stay in school and she made it a routine to disrespect her parents, her 'perfect older sister' and…well, pretty much everybody.

Except for her boyfriend, who is just as much of a loser as she was.

Brylee was nothing like her sister. Yes, she was shy, insecure and painfully lonely. But she was also smart, talented, beautiful and the best person to be around. She wished that she had gotten Brylee as her younger sister.

Then again, she wouldn't wish her biological sister on anybody; even her worst enemy.

So it was her resolve to be the older sister figure in Brylee's life, knowing she needed one.

And now, as she began to navigate the perils of womanhood, she would be the best big sister she could be.

* * *

 **SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY! But this was really hard to write!**

 **This trilogy (yes, I'm doing at least two sequels after this) is essentially a coming-of-age thing. Essentially, it is a little girl becomes a woman thing. This is part of that.**

 **Hopefully, I'll be faster with the next chapter.**

 **BYE!**


	5. The Cloak of Night

**OK. We are now back to regular programming.**

 **REVIEW REPLIES!**

 **IrishDreamer4 (from chapter 3): I'm glad you like Brylee. Whenever I create an OC, my main concern is if I am writing the character well and if the character will be well received by the readers. As for the doc manager situation, I wouldn't say I was having a problem. I was using Safari at the time (it was the main browser on my Macbook) and while I could open doc manager, I couldn't upload anything. I found it worked when I changed to Google Chrome. So it might be the browser for your case.**

 **Angel of Light 867: I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far. I actually was a bit worried about everyone not liking that particular chapter because of its subject matter. I will be having more chapters like that throughout the story so I can do some character development.**

 **I own nothing except for Brylee, as per usual.**

 **Also, there will be excerpts from** _ **Pride and Prejudice**_ **by Jane Austen. Obviously, I do not own those. Also, spoiler alert for those who have not read the book. I highly recommend you do, though. It truly is a classic novel. You cannot go through life without reading it at least once.**

 **ENJOY!**

… **or not…**

* * *

It has been five days since Brylee and Lexi's little early morning encounter. Everything was normal for the Loonatics. Receive missions from Zadavia. Perform those missions. Put the bad guys behind bars. Restore order to the city. Go home and tease each other relentlessly.

All in a day's work.

Fortunately for Brylee, her first experience with the menstrual cycle has come to an end (which gave her relief, because the sanitary pads were driving her nuts). She just hoped that her blood sugar levels would return to normal (according to Doctor Haddock, her blood sugar levels being affected by this was expected).

For now, everyone was performing a variety of activities in their headquarters. Ace, Lexi, Brylee and Rev were nowhere to be found in the main living space. Slam was happily munching on his chosen post-breakfast snack: watermelons. Tech, to everybody's surprise, was trying to clear his mind through meditation. Duck, meanwhile, was on the phone trying to conduct "superhero business".

"Hello? Superhero Costume Discount Warehouse? I've been trying to place an order! Hello?" Duck stammered as he tried to talk on the phone.

Something that was giving Duck, who was lying upside down on the couch, a hard time hearing the person on the other end of the phone was Slam. The Tasmanian Devil was happily munching loudly on his watermelons and let out a loud belch as he devoured one.

"Please, Slam! I'm trying to hear!" Duck snapped before sliding down onto the floor as he finally reached someone on the other end, "Oh. There you are. I'd like to order the Perforated Suede Superhero's Cape in Robin's Egg Blue."

" _I'll check on your order, sir. Please hold._ "

Content with how things were finally going, Duck flipped himself upright and landed next to Slam.

"Just trying to jazz things up a bit. Give the costume a little flair. Stand out more in front of the boss lady," Duck smirked, before dead-panning as Slam just continued eating his watermelons, "Like you care."

Ace and Lexi entered the living room and immediately were gravitated towards Tech, who has, so far, not been disturbed from his deep meditation.

This surprised them both.

"He's so into the meditating thing!" Lexi observed.

"Ever since I showed him how to do it, nothing disturbs him!" Ace boasted.

It was at this moment that Brylee chose to walk into the living space. However, Brylee wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Instead, she was fully engrossed in _Pride and Prejudice_.

"Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you. I write without any intention of paining you, or humbling myself, by dwelling on wishes, which, for the happiness of both, cannot be forgotten too soon, and the effort which the formation and the perusal of this letter must occasion should have been spared, had not my character required it to be written and read," Brylee whispered to herself, fully engrossed in the letter Mr. Darcy had written to the novel's heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, following her harsh – but justified – rejection of his marriage proposal.

She was so engrossed in reading the book that she did not notice that she was approaching the three stairs that descended into the space the couch was occupying.

Before Ace or Lexi could say anything to warn her, a surprising voice interrupted them,

"Watch your step, Brylee."

Brylee successfully pulled herself out of the book to realize where she was going. What she didn't know was who gave her the friendly warning to begin with. A few seconds later, Brylee figured it out when she saw Tech's smirk.

"Thanks, Tech. I just want to see Mr. Darcy justify his actions so badly," Brylee breathed as she sat on the couch, nose back in the book in seconds.

"How does he do that?" Ace muttered.

Not long after they met, Brylee became the only thing who could distract Tech. Never in a romantic way, of course. Tech was one of the oldest of the team and Brylee, despite her advanced maturity, was too innocent for a relationship. He could be engrossed in his inventions, but still know what Brylee was doing. Without looking up, he would know when she was about to walk into trouble. Even Ace, who has essentially raised Brylee, wasn't able to do that.

"Hello! Hello!" Duck shouted into the phone after his call was disconnected due to loss of signal, "This is ridiculous! It's the 28th century! We've got jetpacks, hover crafts, computer-synchronized latte makers, but I still can't get a good cell signal on the 134th floor!"

As if it was cued, Duck's cell phone began ringing. Unfortunately, Duck's ringtone was an annoying quaking sound. It was enough to stir Tech and Brylee from their activities.

"Duck, shut that ringer off!" Tech pleaded.

"At least the ringer works! The rest of it's junk!" Duck grumbled.

"Come on, Duck. Tech's trying to clear his mind," Brylee pleaded as she slid the bookmark into the crease between the pages she was currently reading, "Besides, I just found out why Mr. Darcy separated Jane and Mr. Bingley!"

"So you're up to Mr. Darcy's letter to Elizabeth," Lexi smirked, "Wait until they…"

"Do NOT think about finishing that sentence, Lexi!" Brylee immediately snapped, "I do NOT want this book spoiled for me! I'm enjoying it too much!"

"Wow. Brylee enjoying an old book? There's something you don't see everyday," Ace drawled.

"Please! Tech would need a Hazmat team to clear the junk out of his head!" Duck cackled with a laugh before his phone started ringing again, "Hello? Hello?"

To Duck's frustration, there was, once again, no signal and nothing was coming through. Letting out an angry sigh, Duck slammed the cell phone shut, making it known to his teammates that he has definitely been pushed to his wit's end.

"I've had it! No more technology for me! From now on, I do everything the old-fashioned way!" Duck proclaimed.

"Yeah, right!" Lexi immediately scoffed, "No phone?! No EMP3 Music Blaster 5000?!"

"And no high-tech weapons?" Ace added in concern.

"Who needs them? My bare hands are lethal weapons!" Duck shrugged, showing off his powers to prove his point.

"Oh please!" Brylee laughed before she could stop herself.

"You couldn't go one low-tech week without high-tech stuff," Tech added.

"Oh, really?! Well, I'm not you, Mr. Techno Geek!" Duck snapped.

Duck immediately lost his smirk when Tech rose from the hover disc to his full height.

"Make you a bet. If you can get through one week, I'll buy you that new cape myself, and if not, you buy it for me," Tech challenged.

"I want the matching knee high boots!" Duck requested.

"No problem," Tech sighed.

"You're on, mister!" Duck proclaimed as they shook hands.

"By the way, I'm a 13 wide," Tech smirked, only to be met with Duck's scrawl.

"This should be good," Brylee muttered, earning a nod in agreement from Slam.

* * *

Soon enough, the team found themselves in the command room sitting at the round table as Zadavia's hologram was projected from the middle of the table.

"Gather round, Loonatics. We have a major crisis…besides Duck's new costume requests. Begin the holographic imaging feed," Zadavia requested.

With the press of a button, a small rectangular console appeared in front of Tech. After Tech pressed a few buttons, the feed Zadavia had requested began playing on the three screens stationed above the main table.

The screens showed various shots of the robbery Zadavia was informing them about. Two of the screens showed what would later be identified to the Loonatics as Shadowborgs descending onto the ground and approaching the target of their robbery.

The third screen showed their main target: a woman covering her entire body with a black cloak while wearing goggles with red lenses to shield her eyes.

"Moments ago, someone calling herself Black Velvet stole the Acme Doppler Series 5 Radar System," Zadavia began.

"That system directs all air and space traffic in and out of Acmetropolis!" Tech gasped.

"So much for our weekend getaway to Acme Pueco," Lexi sighed sadly to Brylee.

Brylee was disappointed. She had been looking forward to that girl's weekend with Lexi. But, she had expected something like this to happen.

It always did.

"I'm afraid it gets worse. They've also taken the Acme Supercomputer," Zadavia continued.

"That's the most advanced system on the planet!" Tech cried, "I should know. I built it for them."

"See what happens when you rely on technology? Utter chaos! I am so going to win this bet!" Duck boasted.

"Duck, pay attention!" both Zadavia and Brylee snapped at him, with Brylee going as far as to flashing her eyes at him, indicating she would fire something at him if he didn't shut up.

"Yes'm," Duck immediately nodded, cowering away from Brylee as he did.

"I'm uploading security footage now," Zadavia said as she transmitted the footage of the robbery to the team.

"Get us a closer shot of those raiders, Tech," Ace instructed.

"Done," Tech nodded after pressing a few buttons, "Hmm… Most fascinating."

Suddenly, the gang leader, Black Velvet, floated past the camera. She was very attractive with a curvaceous body hidden underneath a black jumpsuit, purple lips and grey hair. Her left arm had been replaced with an interesting prosthetic. It was something Brylee didn't think much of. The meteor hit caused a lot of injuries as well as inflicting casualties. Some of those injures were loss of limbs.

"Hubba-hubba," Slam drooled.

"She's not that pretty!" Lexi scoffed.

"Nah. He's right. She's hot," Ace agreed with Slam.

"Keep your eyeballs in your head!" Lexi ordered, scaring Ace with the glare she gave him.

Brylee couldn't help but laugh at the exchange between the two bunnies. Growing up, Brylee always said that there had to be a woman out there who was tough, smart, beautiful and someone who wouldn't take crap lying down.

She also always said how she wanted that woman to meet Ace first.

"Attractive or not, she is bad to bone and you have to figure out what she's up to. Good luck, Loonatics. Zadavia out," Zadavia said before finishing the transmission.

"Alrighty, gang! Let's jet!" Ace cried as she stood up

* * *

Before Brylee could even blink, everyone was inside the Loonaporter. It was presumed that they would be flying to the space port – where the first attack took place – to find out all they can about the attack and to find out all they can about their latest villain.

Ace had other plans.

"Um, Ace, aren't we going the wrong way? The space port is east," Lexi pointed out when they began approaching a new area of Acmetropolis, which was covered by an odd purple skyline.

"Yeah, but we're going where the action is. Check out the skyline. Just like it was before the foist attack," Ace retorted.

"It's right over the Acme Tech University!" Brylee observed cheerfully.

"Which is the ancestral homeland of geeks, dweebs and braniac-nerds!" Duck cackled.

"I went to school there," Tech cut in.

"There's a shocker," Duck drawled.

"Does this puppy have a hyper drive?" Ace asked, only to have the ship pick up speed, "I'll take that as a yes."

When Ace landed the Loonaporter next to the Acme Tech University, Brylee couldn't help but observe the lightning that was cackling above the structure. From the clouds – to her surprise – a zeppelin suddenly appeared.

' _Must be deploying a cloaking technology,_ ' Brylee thought to herself as they all jumped out of the ship.

Black Velvet's Shadowborgs began to descend to the ground below. Before Brylee knew it, she – and her teammates – were surrounded by pitch black. She couldn't even see the ground.

"Mummy! Someone turned off the lights!" Duck whimpered, "Failed, once again, by technology!"

"Tech, any thoughts? Any suggestions?" Ace immediately asked the resident genius.

"Right now, Rev's gotta be our eyes," Tech proclaimed.

"No problem, Tech. With my built-in GPS, I've got a lock on them!" Rev boasted, "Watch out, Lexi. You're surrounded."

"Back off, boys," Lexi snarled as she threw random punches around her, hitting a Shadowborg every single time.

"Contact's varying. 45 degrees. 46 degrees. 47 degrees. 48 degrees," Rev rambled, only to hear Lexi's grunts as she dodged and launched attacks, "Slam, they're right in front of you. Spin straight ahead."

Slam did not need to be told twice. Activating his tornado powers, Slam spun straight ahead, bowling over Shadowborgs as he went. Unfortunately, he didn't listen to Rev's warnings and ended up crashing into Tech.

Above them, none of the Loonatics were aware of Black Velvet descending from the zeppelin towards the university. Blowing a hole in the wall, she smiled as she approached her target.

"The Light Wave Eliminator. My plan is nearly complete," Black Velvet smirked as Shadowborgs descended into the room, "Take it away, boys!"

"I can't see them, but I can smell them!" Duck yelled, letting out a battle cry as he blindly threw a karate chop…only to nearly hit Ace.

"Hi-yah somewhere else, Duck!" Ace snapped, glaring at his friend.

"Sorry," Duck mumbled sheepishly.

"This is officially getting annoying," Brylee grumbled.

With her lower arms glowing bright, Brylee shot out beams in random directions, hitting Shadowborgs and also burning a bright light in the darkness, which was another thing the Shadowborgs did not enjoy.

But they weren't the only ones.

Brylee looked up when she heard a yell of pain and came face to face with their enemy. Black Velvet's reaction to her powers made Brylee more than a little curious. She had never gotten that reaction before.

"We got what we came for. Cluster!" Black Velvet ordered as she retreated, "I see dark days ahead, Loonatics!"

With some of her Shadowborgs and the Light Wave Eliminator from the university, Black Velvet retreated into the zeppelin hovering above the building. The remaining Shadowborgs remained behind to cut into the legs of the metal structure behind them.

It was only when they were done that the light suddenly shone on the Loonatics as the Shadowborgs and Black Velvet retreated.

"GUYS!" Brylee yelled as she turned around and saw the building collapsing behind her.

"LOONATICS, LET'S JET!" Ace called

Ace, Brylee, Lexi, Slam, Tech and Rev were quick to scramble away. Duck, on the other hand, waited until the last possible moment to quack out of the way. Unfortunately, the others didn't see him do that and presumed that he was buried alive.

"DUCK!" Brylee screamed.

"Oh no!" Lexi gasped.

"Dig him out!" Ace cried as they all jumped and began digging.

"Go go go!" Rev encouraged.

"Ha! Missed me!" Duck smirked as he appeared next to the pile of metal, earning glares from his teammates in response.

"Catch me if you can, Loonatics!" Black Velvet challenged, cackling as the zeppelin disappeared.

"Come on! We can't lose them now!" Ace yelled as they took off for the Loonaporter.

When everybody was in their seats and buckled up, Ace took off in pursuit of Black Velvet.

"Time to pop this balloon!" Ace proclaimed as they flew through clouds, only for him to frown as they struggled to find the ship, "Picking up anything, Tech?"

"They must have deployed some sort of cloaking device," Tech mused.

"I can confirm that," Brylee nodded, "I saw them use it as they were robbing the university."

"Anything, Rev?" Ace turned his attention to the Roadrunner who was gifted with an internal GPS.

"No trace. No sign. No mark. No trail. No heat. No scrap. No lick. No spec. No nickel. Nothing," Rev shook his head.

What they all didn't realize until it was too late was that the zeppelin was hovering over them.

"I hate being left in the dark," Ace grumbled as they were surrounded by the Shadowborgs.

"Who turned out the lights?!" Duck demanded.

Just like it was during the battle at the tech university, nobody could see a thing. The small lights that came from the computer consoles did not help with visibility. All they could hear was the sound of smacking and somebody's yells of pain. They didn't know whose they were and the worst part was, they couldn't help them.

When the darkness lifted, things just got worse.

"Huh. Where did Tech go?" Ace asked, noticing that the coyote's seat was empty.

"LOOK!" Lexi gasped in horror.

To their horror, their friend was unconscious floating in a bubble prison heading towards the zeppelin surrounded by the Shadowborgs.

"TECH!" Brylee screamed, "I've gotta go help him."

"You can't do anything now," Ace reasoned, "But don't worry. She'll learn her lesson. You take one, you take us all."

"Ace, I'm picking something up! Straight ahead!" Rev reported as they emerged through a cloud.

"I see them!" Ace cheered as he spotted the zeppelin containing their teammate and friend.

The Loonatics were quick to pick up speed and gain momentum on the zeppelin. Seeing giant clouds coming up, the zeppelin decided to fly in there for coverage. The zeppelin didn't come back out.

But three attack ships did.

"Three bogies at 12 o'clock! Take evasive action!" Ace barked.

The bogies quickly repositioned themselves so they were chasing the Loonaporter rather than having the Loonaporter chase them. Immediately, Ace began evasive moves to shake them off, but nothing was working.

The team was in for a wild goose chase.

* * *

Things weren't looking that much better for Tech. When he came to, he was on a metal slab with straps pinning him down by his wrists and ankles.

"Welcome to my city in the clouds," Black Velvet greeted as she floated into the room, causing Tech to immediately begin struggling against his bonds, "Isn't it gorgeous? I built it for myself and all my Shadowborgs so we could live high in the sky."

"Beats the rock you crawled out from under," Tech smirked.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm no common thief," Black Velvet retorted, revealing the special cannon that had replaced her lower arm from behind her cloak, causing Tech's eyes to widen in fear before she removed her black hood, "I'm not like everyone else. Thanks to the meteor that hit Earth, my eyes had been permanently scarred."

Tech's eyes widened in horror as Black Velvet removed her goggles to reveal her damaged eyes. Her eyes weren't like regular eyes. They were a strange bright purple all over. He couldn't see the sclera, the cornea or the pupil. Heck. He couldn't even tell if the lens of the eyes were still intact.

Tech recovered quickly though, as he retorted, "And you're brain's been permanently scrambled!"

"I can no longer tolerate any light. I've been forced to live hidden here for far too long," Black Velvet snarled, "Which is why I need a scientist of your genius to help me!"

"Never gonna happen! I know what you up to!" Tech glared at the villain.

"Oh really? Enlighten me!" Black Velvet challenged.

"You'll use the Doppler Radar to project a current of darkness powered by pulses from the Light Wave Eliminator, which will block out our sun and plunge Acmetropolis into permanent darkness!" Tech revealed, eyes widening in horror at the last part.

"I call it the Shroud Caster and soon, everyone will suffer as I have!" Black Velvet proclaimed, before lowering her voice as she leant closer to the pinned coyote, "But you've forgotten the part where the industrious coyote built it for me."

"You're dreaming, hot stuff," Tech scoffed, wiggling his eyebrows for extra effect.

"Not many dogs can resist my charms, Tech. Especially an overworked inventor who doesn't get out much!" Black Velvet retorted.

With a cry, Black Velvet aimed her cannon at Tech and shot small special neurons.

"No, no! NOT THE FACE!" Tech cried as they hit his snout.

"Don't resist my shadow force, baby, as it reaches into your mind, giving me complete control," Black Velvet cooed as she petted Tech's head while the shadow force took hold.

She did not have to wait long. With groans and snarls, Tech opened his eyes. They were the greenish eyes with the yellow sclera everybody saw everyday. Instead, they were the same glossed purple as Black Velvet's eyes. The slab he was pinned on lifted to an upright position and the bonds disappeared, effectively freeing him to follow Black Velvet's commands.

"Now, how about you get to work? Alright, baby?" Black Velvet asked.

"As you wish," Tech groaned as he followed her out of the room.

* * *

"We can't shake these things!" Lexi cried in frustration as all of Ace's evasive maneuvers were unsuccessful.

"We're doomed! DOOMED!" Duck proclaimed.

"Bro, now might be a good time for maneuver 180!" Brylee piped in.

"Well, they don't leave us any other choice," Ace shrugged.

There were times where his sister had some brilliant ideas.

The first thing Ace had to do for maneuver 180 was to get behind his target. The Shadowborgs were good at committing robberies, but they weren't good at battling high in the clouds.

"NOW, SLAM!" Ace barked.

With his signature toothy grin, Slam pressed the blue button that launched three missiles directly towards the ships.

But now, they had bigger problems as, instead of beginning evasive maneuvers themselves, they decided to retreat.

"The attack raiders are going back to the zeppelin!" Lexi cried.

"Now the zeppelin's the target," Ace realized gravely.

"But Tech's up there!" Brylee gasped in horror.

The gravity of Brylee's words sunk in. Sure. If they blew up the zeppelin, all of their problems would be taken care of. The components Black Velvet stole may be destroyed, but at least they would have defeated the villain.

It was an outcome that wasn't worth sacrificing their teammate.

"We've gotta stop those missiles before they blow the zeppelin and Tech out of the sky!" Ace proclaimed as he immediately flew the ship towards the missile, "Can you brain blast them, Lex?"

"Not from here," Lexi answered regretfully.

It was one of those times where Brylee wished their powers didn't have limits. Unfortunately, one of Lexi's limits is her blast only being effective within a certain range. If she was too far from the missile, she wouldn't be able to effectively destroy it.

"Foist one's yours, Rev!" Ace called to the Roadrunner.

"I am on it, Ace!" Rev nodded eagerly.

Above Rev's chair, the roof of the Loonaporter moved back, giving the Roadrunner room to lift off. He jumped, performed a few flips in the air and then began flapping his wings at a rapid pace, flying quickly towards one of the missiles.

"Here's my chance to rip on technology! The next one's mine!" Duck snarled.

"You've got it, Duck," Ace smirked as he flew the ship closer to the missile for Duck to teleport to it.

"A little closer, a little closer," Duck requested.

When he was in the sufficient range, Duck teleported from his seat on the ship onto the missile and ripped off one of the panels to access the missile's wiring.

"Alright! Let's see," Duck mused, as he began messing with the wiring, "No. That's not it. How about this one? No, that's not it either. Maybe this one? No! This one? AH!"

"He's unmovable! Unstoppable! Unbelievable! He shoots," Rev began as he kicked one of the missiles, cheering as the missile drifted off-course before exploding, "HE SCORES! Back to you, Charlie."

"Nice, Rev! Hit the showers!" Ace praised as he moved closer to the final missile, "Looks like we're running out of sky here, Lex."

"On the count of three!" Lexi nodded as she began charging her brain blast, "One, two, two-and-a-half, THREE!"

When she finished her three-count countdown, Lexi fired a brain blast that struck the final offending missile. Electricity cackled around it briefly before it exploded in a big bang. The shockwaves of the explosion were felt for miles. Everyone who was still inside the ship cried as the Loonaporter toppled around space.

But the shockwaves proved to be beneficial. The zeppelin had a few moments where it was appearing, then disappearing and reappearing again before it finally decided to remain visible.

"Alright, Lexi! You knocked out their cloaking!" Ace cheered.

"Uh…anyone seen Duck?" Brylee suddenly asked.

Ace hummed in confusion as he looked to his left, than to his right before finally looking up.

Duck was still trying to disarm the missile manually, but nothing was working. Somehow, Ace knew what was going to happen next.

"Insert Tab B into Flight C and cut Wire D," Duck mused to himself.

"Grab the wheel, Lex!" Ace ordered.

Lexi immediately jumped into the pilot's seat as Ace jumped onto the front of the ship.

"Insert Tab B into… Oh, where is the manual?" Duck moaned before Ace suddenly pulled him off the missile and onto the Loonaporter, "Hey! I was just figuring out how to fly that thing! A few more seconds, I would have been-!"

 _BOOM!_

"Roasted, Duck?" Ace finished with a smirk as he walked back into the Loonaporter.

Duck just stood there frozen at the puff of smoke that was once the missile he was trying to disarm.

So he was doing something right.

The thought of still being on the missile when it exploded almost made Duck do something that would result in him needing to change into a fresh uniform.

An idea struck her as Brylee suddenly got up and approached the compartment next to the pilot's seat.

"What are you doing?" Ace asked his sister in confusion. What would be in the compartment?

"Tech left us some weapons as a safety precaution just in case," Brylee answered nonchalantly as she opened the compartment.

"In case of what?" Lexi demanded.

"The usual suspects. Mutant Vikings… Mutated Fuz-Zs…," Brylee listed as she pulled out the contents, "The Ninjiza 500! Ooh, and night vision goggles!"

"How did you know where to look?" Duck inquired.

"Tech told me," Brylee shrugged, "Before we started making out in the pilot's seat."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Ace screeched, his eyes turning yellow.

"Kidding! Just wanted to see your face!" Brylee giggled, earning a glare from her brother, "What? I just wanted to lighten the mood."

Lexi had to bite back a giggle as she flew the ship closer to the zeppelin. Two things stopped her.

The fact that they had to save Tech.

The fact that Ace was still annoyed.

"Slam, time to do your thing," Ace said.

Not needing to be told twice, Slam jumped onto the roof of the Loonaporter and ripped off one of the underside panels from the zeppelin. The force was hard enough to rip a hole that was wide enough for the entire team to climb through. Lexi and Duck jumped through first, followed by Slam and Brylee and, finally, Rev and Ace joined them.

"Whoa! We're not in Kansas anymore!" Lexi remarked.

"Activate night vision opticals," Ace ordered before closing his eyes.

"Activated!" everyone called in response as they opened their now bright red eyes.

"Let's go crush some velvet!" Ace smirked evilly.

The six of them went off in separate directions. Lexi, Slam and Rev went off to reverse the polarity for the Shroud Caster when the villain was defeated and their teammate was rescued. Brylee, Ace and Duck were off to rescue said teammate and to defeat said villain.

They would have to be quick, as Tech – with Black Velvet watching gleefully – was preparing the Shroud Caster to fire.

* * *

Lexi, Slam and Rev easily found the location of the Shroud Caster. The reason they went there instead of to the control room was that was where the lever they needed was located.

The only complication was that the Shroud Caster – and, by association, the lever to reverse the polarity – was surrounded by Shadowborgs.

Black Velvet definitely does not make it easy.

Still, it made Lexi smirk, "Piece of cake."

Slam still growled as he approached the Shroud Caster.

"Right behind you, Slam!" Rev called as he sped to catch up with the Tasmanian Devil.

One thing they didn't count on was Shadowborgs surrounding them.

Yep. Black Velvet doesn't make it easy.

* * *

Using the Ninjiza 500, Ace cut a hole through the glass wall that separated Duck, Brylee and himself from the control room for the Shroud Caster. They expected to find a lot of things. Black Velvet. A few dozen Shadowborgs. Tech chained to a wall.

They – in a way – did not expect Tech to be operating the Shroud Caster for Black Velvet.

"Hey, uh, Tech, ol' pal. Let's make it like an atom and split," Ace suggested, only to have the coyote ignore him.

"He's not answering," Duck observed.

"Tech, what has gotten into you?" Brylee demanded as she approached her friend.

"Tech only answers to me now!" Black Velvet proclaimed as she appeared behind them, "You all are just in time to watch us usher in the dark ages!"

From her cloak, she fired neurons at Ace, who was quick to counteract with his laser vision. The standoff went on for a few moments until both powers dissipated.

"Uh-uh-uh. Not tonight, Loonatics!" Black Velvet taunted.

It very soon almost became a dance routine for the heroes and the villain. Attack. Block. Counterattack. Attack. Block. Counterattack. It was a never-ending cycle.

That is, until Duck was trapped in a bulb he couldn't get out of and Ace being knocked down by a blast.

"Hey, Duck. Maybe you can take care of her friends," Ace suggested before racing back into action.

"Righty-oh, Ace!" Duck smirked before running towards the Shadowborgs, treating his sphere as a bowling ball and the Shadowborgs as the bowling pins, "Strike!"

"Guys, tell me you're ready," Ace whispered into his commlink.

* * *

"I need another minute," Lexi responded in the midst of fighting the Shadowborgs.

For Lexi, it seemed for each Shadowborg she appeared, two more appeared. She defeated a few around her with a series and round kicks and punches. With one Shadowborg that fell to his knees before her clutching his stomach, Lexi smirked,

"Take two Asprin and call me in the morning."

She then used that Shadowborg to knock down the other Shadowborgs.

* * *

Finally having had enough of his prison, Duck used his eggs to break the sphere after knocking over some Shadowborgs.

But the problem is not over yet.

"Miss Velvet, your Shroud Caster is ready," Tech reported with that monotone voice.

"Why thank you, baby," Black Velvet smirked.

"Tech, stop!" Brylee cried as she charged at them.

Black Velvet was not going to let anyone – let alone a teenager – stop her plans. Immediately, she began firing neurons from her blaster at the young girl. Brylee was able to avoid them with ease. That is, until she righted herself after a flip almost went wrong.

Brylee cried out in pain as she fell to her knees, clutching her side where the shot hit her. It didn't go through her like a bullet, but it still burned. It was painful.

"BRYLEE!" Ace cried in horror.

"Wha… what?" Tech grunted as he found himself slipping between the mind control and the reality surrounding him.

Immediately, Ace began racing towards Brylee. The mission be damned. His little sister was hurt and needed him. His plans were halted when Black Velvet changed the ammo in her blaster and fired at Ace. Ace wasn't shot like Brylee was. He was pinned by ropes.

"Activate the Shroud Caster! NOW!" Black Velvet barked.

"Tech, no!" Brylee begged, "Come on, Tech! Wake up!"

"Bry… Lee…," Tech groaned.

After defeating a few Shadowborgs and racing to Brylee's side, Duck suddenly cried out, "Wait! I can wake him!"

Whipping out his phone from his back pocket, Duck pressed the button that began playing the ring tone everybody despised. Brylee may have moaned and grimaced – although, part of that may be due to her injury.

But it fully snapped Tech out of the mind control.

"ARGH! THAT ANNOYING PHONE!" Tech growled.

"I need a little help here, Tech," Ace drawled.

"Activating night vision," Tech reported as he used his magnetic powers to pull the Ninjiza 500 towards him.

With the weapon in his hands, Tech fired a blast that broke the bonds and freed Ace. Immediately, Tech joined Ace and Duck at Brylee's side.

"I'm fine," Brylee groaned as she waved off everyone's concerns while standing, clutching her side.

"Too little, too late," Black Velvet said gleefully as she approached the controls, "Darkness was my curse. Now, it will be yours, Loonatics."

With that declaration, Black Velvet pressed the button to activate the machine. Ace, Brylee, Duck and Tech heard the familiar whirrs of a machine charging and the cackling of electricity as the Shroud Caster came to life.

* * *

On top of the dish that would fire the emissions from the Shroud Caster towards the city, Rev and Slam saw a slinks of electricity hit the satellite dish and gasped in horror as it fired a cloak of darkness over Acmetropolis, blocking any light from breaking through the barrier.

"What happened to the light?!" an older man asked a young woman near him on the street.

"I don't know!" the young woman shrugged, "There's blackouts all over the city!"

Above them, lightning cackled, making it appear as though it was a bad electrical storm when they took into account the dark skies and power outages. No citizen on the ground knew what was truly going on.

Only Black Velvet and the Loonatics knew the truth.

* * *

"Lexi, have you reversed the polarity?" Ace asked.

"Not yet, Ace!" Lexi grunted in response as she took out even more Shadowborgs.

"If we're gonna take this place down," Brylee began as her lower arm lit up, indicating she was ready to use her powers, "I might as well get a shot of my own."

With those words said, Brylee fired a stream of light towards Black Velvet, unable to hide her smile of satisfaction when it hit the villain in the torso.

"Payback's a bitch," Brylee smirked.

" _GOT IT!_ "

They were slightly startled by the sound of Lexi's voice over the commlink. However, they soon silently cheered as the polarity was reversed and the cloak of darkness that was suffocating the city was stifled by a stream of light. From the top of the dish, Rev and Slam changed the trajectory, shining it into the zeppelin rather than towards the city.

"MY CITY OF DARKNESS! NO!" Black Velvet cried in horror as she tried to shield herself from the intense light.

"I think it's time for us to get out of dodge," Ace remarked as the zeppelin began collapsing around them.

Without thinking twice, Tech scooped Brylee in his arms bridal style and took off.

"I can walk, you know," Brylee drawled as Ace, Duck, Slam, Rev and Lexi joined them.

Tech paid no mind to Brylee's objections. He was just focused on getting out of there before they were caught in the aftermath along with their arch nemesis of the day.

Behind them, everything inside the zeppelin – including the remaining Shadowborgs – was sucked into this bright cackling ball as the zeppelin was rapidly approaching an implosion.

The Loonatics barely escaped in the Loonaporter before the zeppelin finally imploded.

* * *

Back at headquarters, the team was now relaxing after their successful mission. Well, after Tech had treated Brylee's injuries. The burn itself surprisingly wasn't too bad. At least, it was nothing that some Aloe Vera gel couldn't fix. The worst part was the bruised ribs.

Unfortunately, the bruised ribs would leave her out of action for the next three weeks at a minimum. Brylee was disappointed, but at least she wouldn't bored.

Especially given the entertainment around her.

Rev was playing air hockey with himself while Slam watched cheering from the sidelines. Ace and Lexi were enjoying a relaxing game at pool, Ace finally relaxing for the first time since his sister was first injured in the field. Tech was…somewhere. Brylee didn't actually know. Likewise with Duck.

"Rev Runner fights for the saucer, but Rev beats him to it! He lays it into the corner, but taken down by Rev Runner! Another tricky shot, but not quite tricky enough! Rev shoots! Saved by Rev Runner! Looks like Rev really came to play! He shoots! He scores! And the fans go wild!" Rev rambled, causing Slam to cheer as Rev continued playing.

Brylee was whispering to herself the passages as she read _Pride and Prejudice_ , knowing that she was getting to the most intriguing part of Mr. Darcy's letter,

"My sister, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to the guardianship of my mother's nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and myself. About a year ago, she was taken from school, and an establishment formed for her in London; and last summer, she went with the lady who presided over it, to Ramsgate; and thither also went Mr. Wickham, undoubtedly by design; for there proved to have been a prior acquaintance between him and Mrs. Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived, and by her connivance and aid he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart remained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement."

"Has anybody seen Tech?" Duck demanded as he stalked towards Ace and Lexi at the pool table, "I believe he has something to say to me."

Hearing footsteps from behind, Duck turned around and saw Tech standing there proudly…

In the Robin Egg's Blue Perforated Suede Superhero Cape with matching knee high boots they desired.

"Thanks. I went ordered and ordered them. Nice, huh? They're sending you the bill," Tech shrugged as he swooshed the cape around him.

"But… but… but… Those are mine! You were supposed to buy those for me!" Duck cried.

"That would be true if you had actually won the bet," Brylee pointed out.

"You used your phone, Duck. We all saw you," Ace added.

"But I only used the phone to save him! If not for me, he'd still be walking around, 'Whatever you say, Oh Velvety One'," Duck retorted as he mimicked Tech's actions when he was brainwashed.

"A bet's a bet," Lexi smirked, "Besides, from what I hear, Black Velvet's control over Tech started slipping when Brylee got injured. She's always held a soft spot over him."

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that," Ace decided as Zadavia's hologram appeared.

"Good work, Loonatics. Despite Black Velvet's disappearing act, the Shroud Caster has been dismantled and all the parts have been returned," Zadavia happily reported before turning to Tech, "Oh my, Tech. Don't you look heroic?"

"Why thank you, Zadavia," Tech responded with a smirk, knowing how much this was annoying Duck.

"Very impressive indeed," Zadavia hummed in approval.

"But… But… But…," Duck stammered.

"Brylee, how are your injuries?" Zadavia inquired, having heard from Ace that she had been injured in the field.

"Well, the burn wasn't anything that Aloe Vera gel couldn't fix. The bruised ribs are the worst of it," Brylee shrugged, "At least with the time off, I can finish this for my literacy class."

"You up to Darcy's letter?" Zadavia asked with a smirk, surprising Brylee greatly, for she never suspected her boss had read _Pride and Prejudice_.

"Yeah," Brylee nodded eagerly, "I just found out Wickham tried to persuade Georgiana into an elopement."

"I won't spoil anything else for you then," Zadavia decided before signing off with her signature, "Zadavia out."

"Wait! Come back!" Duck cried, still not over her admiration for Tech's new outfit, "I picked out the cape and the matching boots! I'm the heroic one! Be impressed with me!"

"Maybe you can call her back on your cell phone," Lexi shrugged.

"If you can get a signal," Ace added with his signature smirk.

"You know, you're all despicable," Duck growled.

Brylee just rolled her eyes and went back to the book,

"She was then but fifteen, which must be her excuse; and after stating her imprudence, I am happy to add that I owed the knowledge of it to herself. I joined them unexpectedly a day or two before the intended elopement; and then Georgiana, unable to support the idea of grieving and offending a brother whom she almost looked up to as a father, acknowledged the whole to me. You may imagine what I felt and how I acted.

Regard for my sister's credit and feelings prevented any public exposure, but I wrote to Mr. Wickham, who left the place immediately, and Mrs. Younge was of course removed from her charge. Mr. Wickham's chief object was unquestionably my sister's fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hopes of revenging himself on me was a strong inducement. His revenge would have been complete indeed."

"How close are you to finishing his letter?" Tech asked as he sat next to Brylee.

"Two paragraphs," Brylee answered as she rested the book on her lap, "So I'll forgive the interruption."

Tech chuckled. Something everyone learned very quickly about Brylee was that whens he was really into a book, she hated to be interrupted for anything. She barely keeps herself in check when the source of the interruption is Zadavia.

Especially in the beginning, when Zadavia scared the living daylights out of her.

"I just wanted to apologize," Tech began, surprising Brylee for the second time in the space of two minutes, "I feel like you being hurt is my fault."

"Were you the one who shot me?" Brylee asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Tech stammered, surprised by her directness.

"Were you the one who shot me?" Brylee repeated, "It's a simple question, Tech. Yes or no."

"No," Tech shook his head after a minute.

"Then what happened to me wasn't your fault, so I do not need your apology. We're facing the danger of getting hurt on a mission every time we go out. Heck. I'm taking a huge risk just stepping out to go to the library every once in a while. Hadn't Black Velvet shot me, it could have been one of her stupid Shadowborgs. Hadn't I been hurt on that mission, I could end up getting hurt on the next one. This is one of those things that could happen at anytime anywhere to anyone. This is not your fault. Heck. You'd probably fight with Ace to take the shot," Brylee scoffed the last sentence.

"Well, it would be better if it was me than Ace. I can regenerate," Tech drawled.

"And you're not a big baby when he's sick or injured," Brylee giggled to Tech's amusement, "Oh, the stories I could tell you from when we were growing up. At least he never tried to claim he was worse off than me. I think being sick and a Type One Diabetic would beat anyone."

Tech had to shrug at that. Being sick when you had something like Type One Diabetes, cancer or anything along those lines made things just that little bit worse.

And he knew Ace would never pull anything like that, considering how much he loved his sister.

"A part of me knew already knew what you just told me, Brylee. But I still felt the need to apologize for you getting hurt. It made me feel better," Tech confessed.

"Well, whatever makes you feel better," Brylee shrugged.

Who was she to get in the way of someone's coping mechanisms?

Unless someone was coping with something the wrong way.

"So, come on. Let's hear the rest of the letter," Tech encouraged.

Brylee let out a small laugh as she picked up the book and continued reading,

"This, madam, is a faithful narrative of every event in which we have been concerned together; and if you do not absolutely reject it as false, you will, I hope, acquit me henceforth of cruelty towards Mr. Wickham. I know not in what manner, under what form of falsehood, he has imposed on you; but his success is not, perhaps, to be wondered at. Ignorant as you previously were of every thing concerning either, detection could not be in your power, and suspicion certainly not in your inclination.

You may possibly wonder why all this was not told you last night. But I was not then master enough of myself to know what could or ought to be revealed. For the truth of every thing here related, I can appeal more particularly to the testimony of Colonel Fitzwilliam, who from our near relationship and constant intimacy, and still more as one of the executors of my father's will, has been unavoidably acquainted with every particular of these transactions. If you abhorrence of me should make my assertions valueless, you cannot be prevented by the same cause from confiding in my cousin; and that there may be the possibility of consulting him, I shall endeavor to find some opportunity of putting this letter in your hands in the course of the morning. I will only add, God bless you.

FITZWILLIAM DARCY."

* * *

 **So sorry about the late update! While writing, I found out I was going to have surgery, so I've been a bit focused on that. Yesterday (which is the 10** **th** **of December for me), I underwent a diagnostic laparoscopy and my surgeon found two areas that could have been endometriosis. Those areas have been removed for biopsy and I will find out for sure if it was indeed endometriosis when I go for my post-op check-up on Christmas Eve, but the surgeon said one spot definitely looked like endometriosis.**

 **I've recovered from the general anesthetic, but I am still sore, which is to be expected. It's nothing regular Panadol can't handle. I also cannot do heavy lifting for the next four-six weeks.**

 **I also have to be ready to fly to Sydney at a moment's notice due to a family emergency. Fortunately, my surgeon said that if it is absolutely necessary, I could fly as early as Sunday, but waiting until Tuesday at the latest would be preferred due to the carbon dioxide gas that was pumped into me for the procedure.**

 **I'll try not to be so late next chapter. (fingers crossed)**

 **BYE!**


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